Serenity in Cardiff
by NightsDawne
Summary: Ch 13: With the return of John Hart, both Jack and Jayne start to make some progress toward getting over the past/future and finding the here and now again. REVIEWS ADORED! A Torchwood/Firefly X-over
1. Chapter 1

:This is a sequel to Tripping the Rift, my Torchwood/Who/Marvel X-over. I'm going to do my best to make it so it's not purely necessary to read the first one, but there may be a few references, considering that this story starts immediately following that adventure. I'll also probably be filling in a few holes with one-offs in Archives of the Time Agency as I go along and will let you know if I publish a story that relates to this one in the anthology. There will be Anglo-Sino phrases scattered in the dialog, which I will provide translations for at the bottom of the chapters, the translations of which are gathered from multiple online sources. Standard business, of course, is the disclaimer that I don't own Torchwood or its characters, which are the property of RTD and BBC, nor do I own Firefly/Serenity or its characters, which are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and Universal Pictures.:

**My Torchwood fics**  
Deus Ex Machina (not yet published)  
Oberon's Wild Night  
Tripping the Rift  
Kyhl's Story  
Archives of the Time Agency  
Serenity in Cardiff  
Spending Time  
Invasion of the Vending Machine From Hell  
My Hero Bares His Nerves

* * *

_From Tripping the Rift..._

Jack looked up at the monitor as it beeped, the view switching to the RAM readout. "Okay, kids, looks like Torchwood's back in business."

Ianto picked up the remote, switching over to the map view, then bringing up the video shot of a medium-sized space ship plummeting toward the lake in Roath Park. "What sort of aliens are those?"

"Aught-three Firefly-class Mid-bulk Transport, mid twenty-fifth century to early twenty-sixth, although that one looks like it's pretty beaten up. Great little ship. Did a short tour with the browncoats getting shuttled around in one. Those aliens would most likely be humans from the colonies, probably smugglers or mercenaries." Jack broke into a grin. "If we're really lucky, they might have a professional Companion on board."

* * *

Chapter One

* * *

"Jack, mind filling me in on what you mean by humans from the colonies?" Ianto pulled onto the park road, shifting the SUV on the fly. "You're sure they're human?"

"Purer than the ones in Cardiff." Jack tapped his fingers on his knee. "We needed a Noah's Ark, so the Time Agency isolated the Anglo-Sino New Earth Alliance from the rest of the Earth colonies and alien influence in the early twenty-sixth century. They were the insurance that kept the species viable." He looked over at the lake. "At any rate, they're very human." His hand slid to his revolver as Ianto pulled into the carpark and brought the SUV to a stop. He swung out of the black vehicle and started for the lake, the younger Torchwood member trotting to catch up.

"So why are you so nervous?"

"Do I look nervous?" Jack stopped, looking back over his shoulder. "When do I ever look nervous?"

"Never said you looked it, said you are." Ianto slid his 9mm out of the back of his trousers waistband. "So should I be expecting to use this on whatever escaped your insurance policy?"

"I'm doing a good job at making you as trigger-happy as an American, Ianto." Jack flashed a dire grin as he continued toward the lake shore. "Kind of sexy and terrifying at the same time. Just don't shoot unless I give the order. No matter what, do you understand? That ship traveled way outside its range, through a coded isolation barrier, and five hundred years through time, meaning someone on board is a time agent." He stopped again as he heard Ianto chamber a round sharply. "Really terrifying. Really sexy, but really terrifying."

"I remember the last time I met a time agent, Jack."

"You know, John was never a poster boy for the Agency. Some of them were pretty decent people, the time agents. Not all of us were lured by the power of time travel into a life of crime." Jack continued forward over the next rise, looking down from the top at the Firefly-class ship, the cockpit perched above the water at the end of the long furrow it had carved through the park, the photon-reaction drive darkened at the other end. The rear cargo hatch sat unopened below it, half a meter of it underwater. "You still haven't promised me you won't shoot unless I order it."

"You have my word, sir," answered Ianto, stepping up next to him. "What would things come to if I started making decisions on my own?"

Jack glanced at his partner from the corner of his eye. "Are you in a mood because my robot ate your coffee machine?" His attention was drawn back to the ship as the cargo hatch hydraulics hissed, the double doors of the airlock sliding open. "I'll buy you a new one."

"I like _my_ machine," muttered the Welshman, his eyes fixed on the movement. He kept his pistol ready at his thigh, his thumb on the safety as he followed Jack toward the ramp that dropped down to splash into the shallow water at the edge of the lake, forming a decent bridge to dry land. He gave his headset a tap. "Gwen? We're at the crash site. Are you almost here?"

"Just pulling onto the park road," came the reply. "Everything okay so far?"

"We're about to meet our visitors." Ianto looked up to see a man in his thirties with short brown hair and wide-set cobalt blue eyes stride down the ramp, his bearing giving the impression that he was in charge in spite of his rather simple dress of a rust-colored shirt and khaki pants, held up by braces and tucked into functional leather boots. A low-slung hip holster with a single revolver and a long dark brown duster coat completed the unassuming uniform. To the man's left was a light-skinned black woman, almost as tall as the leader and around the same age, her black curls held back from her face in a loose tieback that allowed the ends to hang well over her shoulders. She was as plainly costumed as the man she followed, a green shirt under a brown leather vest, chocolate-colored pants, and dark boots, a black gunbelt holding her sidearm. On her left wrist she wore a leather strap, a buckle holding down a flap that covered whatever was the true purpose of the band. Ianto glanced to Jack's arm where a similar, albeit larger, strap was visible under the edge of his greatcoat's sleeve. The third person that came down the ramp seemed fairly harmless next to her larger companions, a teenage girl with long brown hair in loose locks that fell across brown eyes that dominated her pixie-like features. Her slight figure was draped in a peach-colored cotton sundress that dropped loosely to her midthigh, her feet completely bare. Ianto turned his attention back to the older woman quickly.

"Hello, there, Captain, you're a long way off your route." Jack crossed his arms. "Have a little problem with your grav-drive?"

The captain offered a querulant smile, all but matching Jack's position as he crossed his own arms at the base of the ramp. "Just a little mechanical issue," he answered with an American-sounding accent, a hint of backwoods twang to his words. "Got my mechanic on it right now, in fact, so we'll be off your world as soon as we fix it. Not looking for any trouble."

"Neither are we," replied Jack. "Just wondering if you know where you are."

The captain's eyes shifted quickly to Ianto and back to Jack. "Well, to be honest, seem to have lost our navsat. We in Alliance spa--?" He was cut off by the sudden concussive boom of a single gunshot. Ianto's eyes darted over to see Jack slump backwards, everything seeming to drop into slow motion as he struggled to understand the change in circumstance. The captain and the black woman both stared in equal shock. The teenage girl stood with the captain's revolver in her hand, still pointed where Jack's head had been before the bullet entered his skull between the eyes and dropped him. "Māde!" exclaimed the captain, grabbing for his gun as time swung back into its normal pace. Ianto raised his 9 mm up toward the girl, who was staring at Jack's body with a vacant look of curiosity. Before he could draw bead, however, he felt metal against his cheek as the black woman pressed the muzzle of her sidearm into his flesh.

"Don't think about it," she said in a low, steady voice. "We're real sorry, but it was an accident."

"Accident?!" Ianto clenched his teeth, holding his gun shakily. Jack might come back from a bullet, but he wouldn't. "She shot him in the head!"

"Yeah, well, it weren't part of our planned greeting." The captain got his weapon back and pointed it at Ianto. "Now you just wanna put that away until we can have us a sort or there'll be more corpsifyin' and that'd be not good. River, you get back in the ship, you hear me, girl?"

"He squished his brainpan and it won't stay." The girl commented, crouching down to peer at her victim. "That's not logical, it defies the rules."

"Same's could be said 'bout you, girl." The captain didn't take his eyes off of Ianto as he addressed her. "Now I said get back. Every time, nothin' goes smooth."

"Ianto!" Gwen's voice came over the headset. "I heard a shot, what's going on?"

"So we're at a standoff, now?" Ianto passed on the information as covertly as he could manage. "You two plan to shoot me, too?"

"Don't plan to shoot nobody, just seems to happen that way," the woman cooly responded.

"He won't lay down and stay down, Mal." The girl looked up at the captain, her expression full of child-like wonder. "Don't that beat all?"

"Don't mind her," the captain said to Ianto, trying to take a soothing tone. "She does tend to ramble on and we do tend to not know what the hell she means." His attention was diverted from Ianto, his eyes darting to Jack and then widening as Torchwood's leader sat up, wiping at the spot of blood on his forehead. "Gao yang jong duh goo yang," muttered the captain under his breath.

"I told you so," said the girl flatly.

"What the hell did you shoot me for?!" Jack pushed himself up, glaring at the trio.

"I wanted to see how it worked." The girl stood up as well, squinting at Jack. "Your cerebellum should have been obliterated."

"Well that would explain the headache," Jack said between clenched teeth, then looked at the captain. "Good to see you followed my order, Ianto. I would've shot them by now."

"They did have me at a slight disadvantage in numbers, Jack." Ianto dropped his eyes to the side to the blur of gunmetal he could see against his cheek. A smile crept to his lips as he saw Gwen step out from the other side of the ramp, her own pistol aimed at the woman. "Now we might be in a better position to talk."

"Hands up, drop your weapons, please," said Gwen. "You alright, Jack?"

"I'm a little curious as to why everyone we meet tries to kill me lately," Jack brushed dirt from his coat. "Whatever happened to shaking hands as a form of greeting instead of ventilating people's skulls?"

Ianto lowered his weapon as the other two complied with Gwen's request. "So what do we do now?" He bent down to collect their weapons.

"You're awful polite for Feds," commented the captain.

"We're not Feds, we're Torchwood." Jack put his hands on his hips. "Welcome to Earth That Was."

The captain and the woman looked at each other, then at Jack, lowering their hands slowly. "How can that be?" asked the woman. "There's a hundred years travel in a long distance transport to Earth That Was. We haven't even heard from anyone that far out since the start of the Unification War."

"You're browncoats? From after twenty-five ten?" Jack asked, tilting his head.

"It's twenty-five eighteen by my watch," she replied, lifting the strap and checking it. Ianto frowned, able to see that it looked nothing like the manipulator interface on Jack's wrist strap, pretty much appearing to be nothing more than a military-style timepiece with a compass.

"Of course there's no such thing as browncoats anymore," said the captain quickly. "The war's been over a good while."

"Yeah? Who won?" Jack looked up from the woman's wrist strap dismissively.

"Well..." the captain shrugged. "I did mention there's no such thing as browncoats anymore, right?"

"So you did." Jack looked at the girl, raising a brow. "And you've got a reader with you, too."

"Sorry, who or what's Torchwood again?" asked the captain, shifting the conversation. "Some kind of Old Earth faction, are you?"

"You could say that. We deal with problems like your ship here," answered Jack.

"Things that fall through time, like us." The girl looked up at the sky absently. "So many voices here, so crowded."

"Um, through time, did you say, River?" The captain chuckled. "Huāngmiù."

"It's not," she protested, holding up a leather wrist strap that looked almost identical to Jack's. "I wanted to see if it worked. It brought us here."

"Jack?" Gwen looked over to him. "Why does she have one of those?"

"I don't know," he answered. "I don't recognize her. Only one other I remember who had one like that, but he went..." He trailed off as a tall, muscular man with a goatee and mustache stumbled down the ramp from the cargo bay, one hand to his bandaged head, dressed in a faded yellow t-shirt with the words 'Blue Sun' barely visible in the transfer on the chest, khaki cargo pants, and work boots. A younger man with black hair, dressed neatly in a white shirt with a high collar and an embroidered vest over grey slacks, followed him.

"Sorry, Mal, I tried to get him to lay down but he never listens," said the younger man, grabbing the bigger man's elbow and being easily shaken off of it.

"She hit me in the noggin with a gorram fryin' pan!" The big man glared at the girl who had shot Jack, who in turn had returned to staring at the sky.

Ianto looked over to see Jack staring at the big man, his jaw slack. "Jack? What's wrong?"

"He went MIA," breathed Jack. "He MOTHERed and never came back."

* * *

_Māde!_: Fuck! (sino)

_Gao yang jong duh goo yang._: Motherless goat of all motherless goats. (sino)

_Huāngmiù._: Ridiculous. (sino)

_gorram_: Goddamn (anglo)


	2. Chapter 2

:Thanks to those of you who've reviewed already. Your opinions are highly valued and encourage me to keep writing. As for this chapter, I do hope it's able to be followed, seeing as I was trying to do an exposition with a migraine. If it's complete dosh, just let me know in the reviews and I'll see if I can make it make sense. Any review at all is enough to make me happy!:

* * *

Chapter Two

* * *

Ianto stepped into Jack's office, closing the door behind him. "The police have the entire park cordoned off and the cover story of a fallen American satellite is in place. The press is already assuming that there are illegally placed nuclear warheads aboard, and Gwen has convinced PC Davidson to walk around the place in a radiation suit to keep the cameras at bay."

Jack nodded, still staring at the wrist strap they had taken from the girl. "We'll have to send him a basket of fruit."

"I'm thinking at this point we may have to move him up to the cheese-of-the-month club reward tier. He's asking _me_ about job openings, now." He sat on the edge of the desk. "Are you sure it's safe to leave half their crew back at the ship like that?"

"No captain from that part of space would leave his ship without at least one person guarding it. Even with the lure of food, parts, medical treatment, supplies, and the threat of violence. Three of them here is enough. Besides, would you want that girl wandering around the Hub?" Jack finally looked up. "She's not all there."

"Yes, I feel much better thinking she might just roam off somehow and have a walk around the city, checking to see how many of us come back from head wounds. So it's a vortex manipulator?" Ianto nodded toward the strap.

"Same model as mine. Like I said, only one other person had one of these." Jack ran his finger over the interface board. "We were part of the same mission, but working different sides of it. John and I worked shuttling men and supplies around the independent worlds in a Firefly at the beginning of the war, which gave us a perfect opportunity to slip into the black zone and set up a network of buoys to form the isolation network. Aiden was our specialist. He went in as an Alliance Science Division officer to get access to the communication satellites and the core planet network to implant the isolation code for proliferation to the entire commsat net. Ben was his partner and bodyguard. John was really pissed off about that, that we had to face combat on backwater moons while Ben got to babysit a programmer on well-connected space stations and developed planets with advanced technology."

"It wasn't the first time you went into battle. So what happened to him? Ben, I mean. What did you mean, he MOTHERed?"

"Memory Override Total History and Experience Revision. It's a last resort failsafe for time agents. Think of it like taking a cyanide capsule if you're a spy, only you're meant to survive it." Jack leaned back in his chair. "The last contact we had with them was when they went to a planet called Miranda. It was off the net, really. There'd been some terraforming accident or something that killed off the colonists on that world, but there was a sophisticated computer core that would be a great place to store the programming relays and virtual switchboard so agents could get in and out past the isolation net. We got a garbled message, couldn't make much of it, even after we got back and the techs ran it through every filter they could think of. All we got was that they'd been attacked trying to leave the planet and that it wasn't safe to send any retrieval agents. Ben's MOTHER protocol tripped in about a month later by their timeline. Aiden's never did. He must have died before whatever happened that necessitated the failsafe, because Ben would never have left him."

"Were they lovers or something?"

Jack snickered. "Um, no. I'm sure Aiden wouldn't have minded. We all had a thing for Ben, but he didn't share fifty-first century values about sexual liberty. Don't ask, don't tell was more his speed." Jack propped his chin on his palm. "He's from here.. From now, I mean. He was a gunnery sergeant in the good old USMC, killed in action last March when Prince Harry drove past his post on a road in Afghanistan and someone shot a rocket at them. That's what it says on his death certificate at least."

"And what really happened?" Ianto leaned forward.

"He did take a shot for the royals, that much is true. An alien masquerading as a Taliban was going to infect the prince with a viral agent that would, I dunno, do something alien. Whatever it was supposed to do, it didn't even get to the prince. Ben stepped into the path of the dart and got infected instead. The royals had him shipped to UNIT and locked up in the cryo-vaults in hopes they could figure out what it was he had, but before they could get samples, he disappeared from the vaults." He grinned. "The Time Agency came back and recruited him is what happened. Whatever effect the virus was meant to have on Prince Harry, it made Ben highly resistant to genetic mutation and alien infection. He was pretty much a walking biological tank."

Ianto laughed. "Okay, so the short version is, we have a twenty-first century US marine with a super resistant immune system who worked as a fifty-first century time agent and got lost in the twenty-sixth century currently sitting in our surgery trying to get in Martha's trousers because a crazy girl slammed him over the head with cookware?"

"Basically. Add amnesiac in there."

"The failsafe, you mean. MOTHER." Ianto played with Jack's pen cup, organizing it absently. "What exactly did it do if it was a survivable cyanide pill?"

"It was designed to protect the Agency and agents from psychic probing," explained Jack. "You get caught by anyone who can read minds, you initiate MOTHER so they never find out anything that could compromise the Agency. It was a personality matrix that overwrote everything. Memory, motivations, experiences. The personalities were simple, of course. Basic. All they cared about was surviving until the program decided they were safe and could bring them back out of it, so the matrix was patterned specifically to the mission to create someone who was most suited to live through whatever they'd come across in that time and place. After the MOTHER system determined from monitoring the networks that the agent was no longer in danger, it would send them an object that would trigger a retrieval of their own memories. Of course, setting MOTHER off also burned out your vortex manipulator until retrieval, too. It would only work once, to open a trip to the one stable Rift exit point where an agent could be safely picked up."

"Cardiff, early twenty-first century, could you mean?"

"That's the time and place." Jack tapped the manipulator. "It was supposed to be used once you retrieved your memories. Until then, you just had an obsessive need to keep track of the strap, even if you didn't know what it did."

"So the strap was how MOTHER tracked you?"

Jack shook his head. "A tracking device would be too dangerous. Scans would pick it up. Tracking was done by the agent themselves. The personality believed it was from that time and place after all, so it also believed it had a mother to write home to. You'd wind up writing home, sending money from your checks, even making phone calls and leaving messages on the answering machine, whatever was appropriate. MOTHER would even write back with news about the homestead and family, anything needed to help the cover."

"Rather ingenious."

"Well, the director tended to be clever like that." Jack pushed himself up to his feet, taking his mechanical pencil away from Ianto and putting it back in the cup. "The thing is, either Ben never got his retrieval item or it didn't work on him. He's still the MOTHER personality, and it just might fight back if it senses there's any threat to it, such as an empath. I want you to avoid reading him, understand? I'm surprised he managed to travel alongside that girl without attacking her, but then again, the first priority of the override personality is pure survival, so he'd have done whatever was best suited for that. Still, it doesn't exactly make him stable, got it?"

Ianto nodded. "Of course, sir. I'll keep my mind to myself."

* * *

Gwen looked up from the conference table as Jack and Ianto walked in. The captain and woman they'd first met were picking through their second pizza. Gwen got to her feet to get them fresh cans of soda. "Captain Malcolm Reynolds and First Officer Zoe Washburne of Serenity, Jack. Mal, Zoe, this is Captain Jack Harkness and Ianto Jones."

"Thanks, Gwen." Jack sat down in his chair at the end of the table. "Enjoying the pizza? I know they didn't have any decent pies to the black side of Persephone when I was in the Anglo-Sino system."

Mal raised a brow. "It's like real food. So you were where in the system? Gwen said it's the twenty-first century. Ships don't leave Earth That Was until end of the twenty-second. You fell through this Rift thing?"

"I've done some time travel, yes, but more intentionally." Jack leaned forward on his elbows. "So your other crew member in there, what's his name?"

"Seein' as he can't have warrants 'fore he's born no more than us, don't see the harm in telling you." Mal washed his pizza down with a drink from his soda can. "Jayne Cobb."

"We're not really interested in criminal records so long as you behave yourself while here." Jack smiled. "We're really more interested in finding a way to get you back home, to be honest. So how long has he been with you?"

"About a year and a half, give or take a month." Zoe wiped her hands on a napkin. "Is there some reason you're interested in him?"

"He might have been part of my crew while I was there, that's all." Jack sat back. "Of course under another name. So does he still write home to his mother?"

Mal and Zoe exchanged glances. "We ne'er met her, actually," replied the captain, grabbing another slice of pizza.

"She never sent him anything from home?" Jack sighed, tapping his fingers on the table. "It would've been seven years, I would think he would have gotten it."

"You mean the hat?" Mal scratched his chin. "Because he did get that."

"He even wore it." Zoe shook her head. "That's the only thing, though. A really ugly hat she made him."

"That's it, the hat. It didn't.. make him act differently?" Jack asked hopefully.

"No, just made him look like a gorram chûnrén," she answered. "Which is pretty fitting."

"Was he around that girl, River I think you called her, when he got the hat?" Ianto leaned on Jack's chair.

"She was 'round an' about at the time, don't right recall if she were too close or not." Mal shrugged. "They ain't zackly kin close, those two. You seem to be askin' a lot of questions 'bout stuff seems not so much your business."

"Considering you're not likely to get off this planet without our assistance, I think you might want to be a little more patient with our nonsense, Captain Reynolds." Jack got to his feet. "If you can just give Gwen some more information about the rest of your crew, I'll see what we can do about getting you the parts you need to fix your ship."

* * *

_chûnrén_: fool, idiot (sino)


	3. Chapter 3

:Thanks again for the reviews! Your opinions help me write. Please keep telling me what you think, and if you haven't yet, go ahead and do it as soon a you get to the bottom of this chapter.:

* * *

Chapter Three

* * *

Jack stepped into the surgery, giving Martha a smile. "How's the patient?"

"Don't remind me." Martha rolled her eyes. "I gave him ten milligrams of Olanzapine IM just to shut him up and decrease my interest in getting a frying pan of my own to bash him with."

"Sounds like a charmer. Olanzapine is...?"

"It's an antipsychotic," explained Martha. "Also tends to make the patient a quietly drooling idiot if you give enough of it. Fortunately, the only side effect applicable to him was making him quiet. Well, might have increased the drool. Couldn't be more of an idiot." She crossed her arms. "I haven't met anyone, and remember I'm including Saxon in this, and several races of genetically rude aliens, more crude and generally inappropriate than him. I hope it's all due to his head injury. Either that or he has Tourrette's syndrome."

Jack bit back a laugh, squeezing Martha's shoulder with a comforting hand. "That bad, really? Is he up to talking?"

"Yeah," admitted Martha. "Don't mind if his head rolls a bit and he sounds a little drunk, he's at least not concussed anymore. He's not quite so rude either, when he's drugged."

"Too bad. I kind of like them sassy." Jack walked over to the table where the tall and heavily muscled man lay, looking him over while he lay in a light slumber, snoring softly. He did look older than he remembered, but it was clearly Ben, even with the addition of the facial hair. His light brown hair had crept just a bit back in the hairline and there were creases at the corners of his eyes. Jack could remember those eyes when they were open quite well. Green, full of humor and an intelligence that seemed more suited to an officer than a grunt and had helped to explain how the marine had advanced so far in the ranks at such a relatively young age. They'd spent many evenings together at the Time Agency, evenings that stuck with him after all the years he'd seen since. He could vividly remember watching Kyhl and Ben talk in great animation about twentieth and twenty-first century politics, films, and books by Tom Clancy, who at the time had been for Jack merely an obscure author only they seemed to have read. They'd both been so passionate about his writing that Jack had had made use of the surname Ryan on more than one mission. He was certain he had them to blame for him now having every book the American had put out stowed in his foot locker.

Evidence that the years spent under his new personality hadn't been all fun lay in the faint scars that covered the time agent's body. The doctor on Serenity was obviously talented, the dermal reconstructions precise to the point where one wouldn't see the scars unless you looked directly at them under the sort of lighting in the surgery, and even then they were merely light shadows. One crossed his temple, another ran along the top of his cheekbone. Jack looked down to see a longer scar, more defined, running in a slash across his bare chest between the pads of the heart monitor. Jack traced a finger across the old wound curiously. The other time agent's hand grabbed his in a strong grip, green eyes flashing open.

"Get your gorram sly hands offa me," growled the man now known as Jayne Cobb.

Jack laughed, breaking the grip with some difficulty and stepping back. "Just checking your scar is all. Where'd you get that?"

"Why, you lookin' t'get one for yourself?" Jayne tried to sit up, only to flop back against the bed with a groan. "Make it stop the gorram spinnin'!"

"I'd stay down if I were you." Jack stepped forward again to put his hand on the other man's shoulder. "You're not in any danger. We're here to help."

"Get humped, you hwun dan," muttered Jayne. "Touch me ag'in an' prepare to shuffle. I ain't sly!"

"What makes you think I am?" Jack raised a brow.

Jayne shot him a glare that had absolutely none of Ben's good humor or intelligence, revealing more of simple cunning and avarice. "Jack Harper, not sly? Jien tah-duh guay!"

Jack swallowed. "Who told you that's my name?"

"I dunno, ain't it?" Jayne snorted. "Git me outta this bughouse."

"Is everything okay, Jack?" Martha walked over to check on the pair.

"Fine," he responded numbly. "Martha, what is that drug you gave him used for?"

"Olanzapine, it's Zyprexa." Martha tipped her head. "Treats severe anxiety, schizophrenia, extreme mania. At the doses I gave him, it'd put a mad bull down to nap."

"Keep him on it for a while." Jack stepped away from the bed, the doctor following him to the door of the surgery. "Keep an eye on him. Better yet, a camera. Anything else he says, I want to hear it."

"I'll get it started." Martha pursed her lips. "What is it, Jack? Who is he?"

"He might still be Ben Jacoby, somewhere under there. If he is, I want to see if I can bring him back." Jack looked back to where Jayne was already starting to snore again.

"Jack, I've got the crew listing out of them finally." Gwen made her way around the core, offering out a clipboard. "Is everyone suspicious in the twenty-sixth century?"

"A bit, it's a tough period and they're frontier people. Think like the American Old West." Jack took the clipboard, looking over the names and positions on the list. "Hot damn, they've got one!"

"Got one what?" Gwen pulled her hair back in a ponytail.

Jack laughed, handing back the clipboard on his way to the invisible lift. "A registered Companion! Do me a favor and send Ianto home! I've got to go meet her!"

"Got to go meet who?" Martha sighed, looking to Gwen for help. "What exactly is a registered Companion and why's he so keen?"

Gwen shook her head. "Who knows? I have a feeling Jack's enjoying knowing more than any of us and not bothering to share. Again." She tucked the clipboard under her arm. "I do hate that about him. Where's Ianto now, you know?"

"Vaults," answered Martha. "Guess you and I get to stay late tonight."

* * *

Ianto opened his second bottle of beer, flipping the cap with his thumb and middle finger to land in the bin. He eyed the fridge where he had all the makings for a romantic dinner for two, his lower lip slipping into a pout. Thursday nights, barring end-of-the-world emergencies, were reserved for him and Jack to spend outside the Hub. Even if they wound up spending half their time chasing weevils through sewers, they would do it together, and make a stop by Ianto's maisonette after for a shower and whatever else came to mind once they had their clothes off. The sacred ritual of Thursday night had been what let Ianto know he was more than just the workplace shag for the boss, that Jack thought of them as a couple, too. Even when they had someone else joining them, he knew that person would be leaving and Jack would stay, falling asleep the way he never did in the Hub, tangled in Ianto's 500-thread-count sheets and looking perfectly relaxed, even content. He looked at the clock again. Nine fifteen, no Jack, and no word other than Gwen's cryptic message to go home.

He grabbed the bottle of wine he had chilling in the ice bucket on the counter and carried it upstairs to the bathroom. He finished off the beer while the tub filled. He hung up his suit carefully in the wardrobe, adjusting the shoulder so it fit perfectly against the other four that made up his weekday rota of work clothes, folded his tie neatly over its bar on the door, and tossed the rest of his clothes in the hamper, then stepped into the tub of bubbles alone. He let the water soak into his shoulders, the heat doing nothing to ease the tension that he felt. The meticulous admin didn't bother with a glass, drinking the wine straight from the bottle like he had the two beers. He glanced at his watch on the edge of the sink, the luminous dial visible even by candlelight. Ten after ten, no Jack. He took another swig and set the bottle on the edge of the tub, sinking down in the bubbles past his ears, hanging his leg over the edge of the tub to fit.

Voices muffled by sudsy water brought him out of his sulk. He sat up quickly, water sloshing over the side of the tub, his elbow knocking the half-empty wine bottle over. He made a grab for it, but it slipped completely out of his wet hands and crashed on the floor, spilling white zinfindel in a decidely not-white stain on his cream-colored bathmat. "Shit," he muttered, grabbing for the towel he'd left on the toilet seat and leaning out of the tub to try to blot up the mess as he heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Ianto?" Jack leaned in the opened door of the bathroom and turned on the light, his other hand on the door knob. He broke into a laugh when Ianto looked up, naked and wet, half in and half out of the tub, his fluffy microfiber ivory towel spotted pink from the wine. "Um, you busy?"

"Why can't I be? You obviously were." Ianto pushed himself back into the tub, wishing he'd sounded more clever and less petty and hurt than he had. "Should I even ask where you've been?"

"On Serenity." Jack stuck his hands in his pockets. "I guess I should have called the wife."

"I'm not your wife." Ianto looked away. "I'd just have had dinner ready is all. Would've made enough for three if you'd told me you were bringing a friend."

Jack bent over the bath to kiss his lover's forehead. "I'm not staying for dinner."

Ianto looked up at him. "But it's Thursday night. Is there an emergency? Gwen didn't call, or did I miss it?"

"I called her and told her you're not to be disturbed even if Cardiff falls straight into hell." Jack closed the door to get Ianto's robe off the hook, holding it out. "C'mon, get out of the tub. I'll clean up."

Ianto got to his feet, frowning. "What do you mean you're not staying?" He shrugged into the robe as Jack draped it around him. "You going out with whoever you brought home? Are you coming back at all tonight?"

"Only if she tells me I can." Jack laughed again, pulling the confused Welshman into his arms and giving him a deep kiss. "I can't believe I've actually managed to make you jealous at last, Ianto Jones, and you haven't even seen her yet."

Ianto pushed away from him. "I'm not jealous. You want to go, go. I'd never pretend being your shag comes with conditions, even if you told me you love me."

"You said it first," countered Jack. "Wow, you really do need tonight off. Now stop being such an ass and go downstairs. It's rude to leave a lady by herself like that." He bent down and picked up the towel and mat. "Go, I've got this."

Ianto sighed, tying the robe's sash as he made his way to his bedroom. "I'll get dressed and get another bottle of wine chilling for you two, then."

"Forget dressing!" Jack yelled from the bathroom. "Just go downstairs!"

"God, I'm the bloody ass?" muttered the admin, turning for the stairs. He thought he had gotten used to Jack's sometimes insensitive behavior, that he had seen enough of the older man's true feelings for him to counter any unintended pain, but this was cold even for Jack. Any self-respecting man would have told him to shove off and take his girl with him, but Ianto couldn't bring himself to be that angry. He swallowed, realizing he'd put up with the pain and it would go away again, that he'd be fine the moment he saw Jack happy and felt he had anything to do with it, if Jack would only let him have that much. He took a deep breath, putting on his polite face as he set foot on the first floor landing. He could hear her moving about in the kitchen and turned that direction.

"Hello, can I get you any--?" he faltered as she turned around, his tea kettle in her hand. She was more like a fantasy rendering of a woman in a high-end video game than anything that could happen in real flesh and blood. Her chestnut hair was swept up in a pile of braids and twists, twined with delicate strands of pearls. Her skin was exotically dark, a perfect canvas for large almond-shaped eyes with brown depths he felt he could fall into. Her lips were painted a glossy red that emphasized the perfect full curve that parted from the pert cupid's bow above it, revealing the smallest edge of impossibly straight and white teeth as she smiled. Her slender figure was gracefully hinted at underneath a gauzy sari in amethyst embroidered with fine gold thread.

"You must be Ianto," she said, her voice as enchanting as her face. It was low, but delicately feminine, confident without being strident. "Jack said I could make myself at home while he fetched you down. The photo he carries of you hardly does you justice." She set the kettle on the cooker and bent to study the knobs. "I'm sorry, I'm not used to this particular model."

"Um, second knob. I'll get it for you." Ianto moved over to light the burner for her, his breath catching as he caught the scent of jasmine and sandalwood that rose from her hair and skin. "I can finish making it for you. You want coffee or tea? I've got what's in the basket there on the worktop."

"I brought my own, thank you," she said, straightening again to look up at him with a smile. "He's absolutely right, you are perfectly adorable. If you'd been born in the right time and place you could have easily attended the Sinhon Academy and been a Companion in your own right."

Ianto exhaled slowly, unable to tear his eyes off her face. "Too bad I dropped out of university, then. What's a companion?"

The woman laughed, her eyes widening. He blushed slightly, feeling foolish for not knowing what she was talking about, but she put her hand to his cheek, easing his embarrassment. "I'm a Companion. Someone who is trained and specializes in providing services to those who wish to have someone's full attentions. My role is to do whatever brings my clients full and perfect bliss."

"Like an admin?" Ianto couldn't imagine someone that beautiful filing papers, but the thoughts of what might be involved in the definition she'd provided were rather hard to conceal politely while standing so close to her wearing nothing but a satin kimono. The blush returned full force.

"No, like a.. courtesan might be a more familiar word to you." She looked down for a moment, then lifted her eyes to his again. "You see now?"

"Oh." Ianto relaxed a bit. "So Jack hired you for the evening? No wonder he doesn't want to waste his time here."

"Oh, he wanted to." She turned again as the kettle whistled. She poured the water into an elegant iron teapot next to the sink. "I insisted he step out. He would be too distracting for you."

"For me?" Ianto furrowed his brow. "I don't understand. What do I have to do with it?"

Jack walked into the kitchen, tossing the towel and mat into the washing machine along with Ianto's shirt and underwear from the hamper. "She's here to spend the night with you, Ianto. So, Inara, was I right?"

Inara turned back to Ianto, sliding her arm around his waist. "You're very right, Jack. He truly needs to learn to let someone take care of him for a change."

Ianto looked from Inara to Jack and back to Inara, swallowing hard. He spun quickly to take the box of washing powder from Jack, adjusting the cycle on the washing machine. "You're going to ruin them if you wash in hot, and you can't get wine out with just washing powder, unless you want that stain in there forever."

Inara sighed, shaking her head as the young Welshman celebrated the news of his being chosen by a Companion with laundry. "I have my work cut out for me. You can leave now, Jack." She raised her hand, finger pointing to the door as he opened his mouth to protest. "If I need your help I'll call. Go."

* * *

_sly_: homosexual (anglo)

_humped_: fucked (anglo)

_hwun dan_: bastard (sino)

_shuffle_: die (anglo)

_Jien tah-duh guay!_: Like hell! (sino)

_bughouse_: mental hospital, nuthouse (anglo)


	4. Chapter 4

:Sorry about the delay in updating. Had family celebrations taking higher priority than writing for the past couple of days, and burned my finger, making it fun to type. Really. And a bit of writer's block to boot mostly because of distractions I'm sure, because now that they're past, I managed to get the chapter out. Love to hear what you think of it.:

* * *

Chapter Four

* * *

"Sit down, Cap'n Harkness, we got plenty of dinner to go 'round," invited Serenity's cheerful engineer. Kaylee Frye, Inara had introduced her as when he'd first met the rest of the crew earlier in the evening. She pulled out one of the mismatched dining chairs in the ship's mess and patted it invitingly. She'd changed from her work-gear of grey coveralls into a pink floral print blouse that showed off that she was a girl in spite of the smudge of grease that crossed her nose. Her dirty blond hair was pulled up into odangos held in place with brightly painted chopsticks, and her hazel eyes sparkled every time she cast a smile in the direction of the dashing Torchwood team leader.

Jack returned the smile, glad for a bit of lightheartedness to distract him from thinking about his lover and the beautiful Companion spending the night without him there. It was, after all, his idea. "Thanks, Kaylee. You sure I'm not imposing?"

"Oh, no, not none!" she insisted. "It's shiny you're here. You sent us the food anyhow, wouldn't be polite not to ask you to share some supper."

Simon Tam, the young ship's medic with the dark hair who had failed to keep Jayne Cobb in his bunk when Serenity first crashed into Roath Park, cleared his throat, reaching for a roll. "Méi guānxi. It's our pleasure, I assure you."

"Feel like a third wheel, though." Jack took a plate of roasted chicken as Kaylee handed it to him. "I get the impression you two were planning an evening by yourself."

Simon exchanged a glance with the pretty engineer. "Um, did we..? Sorry, that's not really.. We honestly never meant to.."

"We ain't alone anyway," chimed in Kaylee, coming to the rescue of her boyfriend as the very implication of romance threatened to leave him inarticulate. "Simon's sister's here, so you're at least a fourth wheel, an' that makes a whole wagon!" She lit up the room with another smile. "Salad?"

"Xièxie. Is she, um..?" He looked over his shoulder at the hatch to the corridor outside, a little wary of River after their first encounter.

"She's reading." Simon speared a pea pod with his fork in the delicate manner of someone who grew up eating off of china, not aluminum alloy mess plates. "Don't worry, she's really not violent. I mean, I recognize she hit Jayne in the head and shot you, but that's the first time she's done anything like that in months, and she was honestly just curious about your, um, ability to revive from fatal injuries."

"Maybe next time she can just ask." Jack tried some chicken, expressing his enjoyment of it with an approving moan that made Kaylee laugh into her hand. "You sure you should be an engineer? You could be a chef."

"I do my best. Most time ain't got real food to work with, but Simon says I make a mean protein soup." She looked at the doctor with adoration that seemed to set his insecurities around the older man aside.

"I'll have to try it sometime. Sounds.. proteiny." Jack had a drink of Blue Sun cola. "So, why'd she hit Jayne on the head, do you know?"

"They never really got along," explained Simon. "Jayne's not exactly.. tactful, so he's a bit difficult to get along with anyway, but he and River have trouble trusting each other even though we're all part of the same crew."

"But she doesn't usually hit him on the head, does she?" Jack pressed.

"He should listen to his mother." Jack started, looking behind him to see River standing in the hatchway, her book still in her hand. "She just wants him home, right?"

"You know his mother?" Jack stood as River made her way past him to sit next to Simon.

"He don't have her face in his brainpan." River stared at the plate Kaylee set in front of her. "That's the odd part."

"So you hit him?"

"You remember your mother, Jack. Her name was Emily and you remember her face, right up to the point you came home and they said she kicked." River looked up at Jack, her eyes unsettling him more than he wanted to admit. He sat slowly, letting the subject drop before she could read him more deeply.

"So, Cap'n Harkness.." Kaylee started up the conversation again.

"Jack. Call me Jack." He flashed her a smile, finding it ever so easy to respond to the optimism in her tone.

"Okay, Jack." She tucked an escaped tendril of hair behind her ear, leaning forward eagerly. "Where'd you take Inara off to? Some head of state's palace or fancy noble's mansion or something?"

Jack laughed. "Um, she's with my boyfriend in his one-bedroom rental. He's head of the reception desk, pretty much, and I don't think he's got any noble blood, although Gwen and he seem to have some private joke now about him and one of the Knights of the Round Table."

"Your boyfriend? Well, he must be real cute, then. How come you're not with them?" Kaylee peeled a strip of chicken from the bone with her fingers. "Is it his first time with a girl?"

Jack dug out his wallet, opening it and passing her the photo of Ianto he'd shown to the Companion during their long discussion of his lover. "He's mostly had girlfriends, actually. We just thought it'd be better if they were alone."

Kaylee took the photo after licking her fingers clean. "Aw, he's totally kê ài. Look, Simon, he kinda reminds me of you." She showed him the picture.

"I don't see it." Simon shifted in his seat. "He's the one who was with you when we first met?"

Jack nodded, taking the photo back. "He's with me most of the time, to be honest. I just forget to notice it until he's not."

* * *

"You mind if I ask, doctor, what it is you're doin' to my crewman?"

Martha spun, grabbing her chest at Mal's unexpected presence in her surgery. "Oh God, you do sneak about. Almost as bad as the Doctor on the TARDIS." She caught her breath again. "Sorry, what was it you wanted?"

Mal nodded toward Jayne, who was slurring some ridiculous song as he lay on his bed, something about a Robin Hood sort she'd guessed from what she could understand of the lyrics, and she was also pretty sure he'd made it up himself, since the hero had the name Jayne. Serenity's captain crossed his arms as he repeated his question. "What're you doin' to Jayne?"

"He's on medication to keep him calm. We're monitoring him because of his head injury, it's standard practice." She offered him a placating smile, not finding it prudent to add that she'd used alien technology to repair the contusion already and he wasn't even likely to have a headache at this point.

"Think I'd feel a might bit more easy-minded on the matter if our medic took a look at him, if y'don' mind." Mal stood his ground. She had to give him credit: being protective of a man like Jayne Cobb took a lot of crew loyalty.

"You'll have to clear it with Jack, but it's fine with me." Martha put her hand to his shoulder. "Now we should let him rest, don't you think?"

A crash behind her made her whirl again, this time to see Jayne staggering toward them. "Mal, don't make me go back there. Ain' goin' back with no Reavers."

"Jayne, there ain' no Reavers here, so stand down." Mal looked back to Martha. "Don' seem to be keepin' him calm."

Martha hurried to guide Jayne back to the bed. "He's due for another dose, that's all." She helped the muscular man onto the bed again.

Jayne grabbed her arm. "I know you. You're with UNIT."

"What?" Martha stared at him.

"I saw you there when they brought me in." His harsh frontier accent was gone, replaced with a generic Midland accent common to Americans with a lot of past addresses. What it didn't sound like was anyone she'd met from Serenity. "I want to go home. You can't keep me here. I'm an American marine."

Martha nodded slowly, reaching for the hypo gun. "I'll get right on it. I'm going to call my supervisor as soon as I give you this shot."

"Now, see, doc, this sorta thing's why I ain' got huge amounts of trust in your care. Did Jayne just say he was American?" Mal rubbed the side of his head.

"Apparently." Martha tapped her headset. "Gwen? I think it's time we got hold of Jack again."

* * *

Jack dropped down the access ladder into the converted hold that served as Jayne Cobb's bunk. It was devoted for the most part to a massive arsenal of weapons in easy reach of the worn cot. The decor, if it could be called that, was an odd assortment of photos of women in various states of undress, most of them seeming to have been hastily ripped from advertisement posters, and Blue Sun logos. The Blue Sun logos in particular drew his curiosity. They all seemed to be aimed at the hatchway, as if meant to ward off some anti-consumer evil. Jack couldn't even imagine why Ben Jacoby or his MOTHERed incarnation would pick up an obsession with the Anglo-Sino system's omnicorp. They weren't the only company that made weapons, and judging by the selection Jayne kept handy, weren't even his favorite manufacturer. He searched his mind for anything else about the Blue Sun corporation that might give him insight, but other than the very taste of their cola bringing back traumatic memories of constant meals during his mission made up of nothing but cheap Blue Sun canned goods, he couldn't recall much.

"Don't breathe in there. You'll go bug-juiced."

Jack looked up quickly, spotting River's bare feet above the hatch. "I'm just looking around. I'm looking for Jayne's hat. You know, to take to him. Want to come in and find it for me?" He might find River unnerving, but having her stand outside like that was making him feel trapped.

"No! I'm not coming in there! It's full of bad brains!"

Jack furrowed his brow. "O.. kay. You know where it is at least?"

River crouched down, her eyes scrunched tightly shut as she pointed. Jack followed her finger to the foot locker. "Thanks." He sat down on the cot and opened the locker, digging through a pile of worn t-shirts, cargo shorts, and an impressive array of surprisingly clean socks until his fingers touched wool yarn. He pulled out the hat and stared at it. "That's the ugliest hat I've ever seen." He shook his head at the light and dark orange flap-happy topped with a ratty pom-pom.

"Ain't it supposed to be unique? If you want to use an object for retrieval of suppressed memories, you wouldn't want something they might run into before they're supposed to remember."

Jack looked back up the ladder slowly. "Did you pick that up from him or me?"

"Both." The finger retreated and soon all that was visible again was her feet. "His brains are squished in like scrambled eggs. That's why I hit him. It's what he does when the radio don't work. He hits it and it starts talking again."

Jack smiled. "I get it now. You picked up on the fact that he wasn't really Jayne. You were trying to help him out when you hit him, weren't you."

"He went deeper when we went to Miranda. He don't wanna come back, not with the hat. It's the Reavers. Then we went to Miranda, he went to ground in his own head."

Jack stuffed the hat in his shirt and started up. "What are you talking about? You went back to Miranda with him? And what about Reavers? Are they real?"

River waited for him, stepping back so he could exit the hatch and looking up at him with her large dark eyes. "We killed a bunch. He don't wanna, but he kept lookin' in their faces when he went past the bodies. Lookin' for Aiden."

Jack grabbed her shoulders. "Aiden. You know about Aiden? What do you know about him?"

River shook her head, her eyes scrunching up as tears spilled down her cheeks. "No, Aiden, no! Let him go! Why don't they let us die?" She broke away from Jack and ran, her bare feet pounding on the grated walkways. "Don't make me go back there!"

Jack sucked in his breath, fighting the urge to chase the nimble girl through the ship. He had a serious notion her brother would object highly to him pressing an interrogation on her and he wasn't sure he'd understand anything she said anyway. He leaned against the bulkhead as his headset beeped, tapping it on. "Yeah?"

"Jack," came Gwen's voice. "Can you come back to the Hub? Jayne's making no sense and Mal and Zoe are both getting restless. That and Widget Too says she can't open a dimensional portal to get the Serenity back. She says she needs a code to get past the isolation net."

"Yeah, of course she would. And Ben.. Jayne is the only one who'd know it." He ran his hand through his hair, heading for the cargo bay. "I'm on my way back now."

* * *

_shiny_: great, cool (anglo)

_Méi guānxi._: It's fine./It's no big deal. (sino)

_Xièxie_.: Thanks. (sino)

_kicked_: died (anglo)

_kê ài_: cute, adorable (sino)

_bug-juiced_: crazy (anglo)


	5. Chapter 5

:I've posted Ben's backstory in _Archives of the Time Agency_ under the story _Getting MOTHERed_ for anyone who's interested in finding out why Jayne's so terrified of Reavers and getting spaced.:

* * *

Chapter Five

* * *

Jack strode through the Hub, barely catching himself before he called out for Ianto to bring him coffee. He sighed, looking at what remained of Ianto's coffee machine. "Damn it, Too."

"Oh, golly, Jack!" Widget Too shot out of the vaults, slamming into a shelf and upsetting Owen's tools that had been piled on top of it. The floating spherical robot bounced off the floor and then whizzed around Jack's head until he was dizzy.

"Yeah, I'm here, I'm here!" Jack put up a hand to stop her progress. "Tell me you haven't been eating anything important."

"It's alright. I fed her some scrap metal from the bin." Gwen came up the stairs. "Where's Ianto? I could really do with going home."

Jack ran his hand through his hair. "He'll be in later, I guess. Go on home. Give Rhys my love. I'll call if we need you."

Gwen went up on tiptoe to kiss Jack's cheek. "Don't need me, then." She grabbed her jacket and handbag, heading for the rollaway door. "Be good, Too. She's all yours, Jack."

"Great." Jack eyed the robot, who gazed back at him with her wide glowing eyes. "Go.. sit. Someplace else. Quietly. Put a message through to Owen that we could use his help here." He pointed toward the conference room, waiting until the robot phased her way through the wall to continue toward the surgery. "Martha?"

Martha looked up from her desk. "I hope you brought coffee."

"Sorry, I came straight over. What's been going on with your patient?"

"He claims he's an American marine who saw me in UNIT." Martha crossed her arms. "Care to explain?"

Jack crossed his arms as well. "Why, do you recognize him?"

"I was one of sixty medical officers, Jack. If he wasn't my patient specifically, I probably didn't take a good look at his face. Just curious as to how he would be there in the first place."

Jack shrugged. "He's an American marine. Why don't you look it up?"

"I did. There's no Jayne Cobb in the USMC or in UNIT's records."

"USMC, Gunnery Sergeant Benjamin Hale Jacoby. Try that, but don't make a fuss. They might have some idea he's more or less their property." He turned from her to nod to Mal as the captain of the Serenity made his way over, leaving Zoe to watch over Jayne. "How are you doing, Captain?"

"Gettin' a might edgy on the basis Jayne seems to be makin' a turn for the bughouse under your hand, actually." Mal furrowed his brow, looking back over his shoulder. "Moreso'n usual, I mean. Leastways in a new direction not expected."

"I assure you he's in the best possible hands, medically speaking."

Mal looked back. "Think maybe we should take him back on board Serenity, let our young doctor have a looksee."

"I'll be happy to have Simon brought here, if that'll work out for you." Jack walked past the captain, pulling Jayne's hat from his shirt.

Mal grabbed Jack's shoulder, turning him about. "Seems you're gettin' my crew here by bits, Harkness. Mind tellin' me why that is? I figger I been patient enough so far, but your nonsense ain' gettin' no clearer."

Jack looked at the hand, then back at Mal. "I'm just trying to get you back home. You have my word on that. Jayne there is key to that plan. Trust me."

"Any plan Jayne Cobb's a key to ain' a plan I'd trust." Mal looked up to the main entrance door as it rolled aside again, laughter echoing down the staircase.

Jack followed his look, recognizing the voices immediately. "Ianto?"

"Inara?!" Mal frowned, letting go of Jack to walk down to the Hub floor.

The pair stepped into the room, Ianto's arms full of takeaway boxes and paper coffee cups, Inara's arm looped through his as she looked up at the young Welshman with a smile of true affection. Jack pushed past Mal, pursing his lips. "Well, looks like you two got along. Have a nice night?"

"They look right cozy to me," said Mal, dropping his chin down.

Ianto looked down to Inara. "She's really wonderful, Jack. She does this thing with washing feet--"

"And he's got a way with backrubs," added the Companion.

"I'd have to say I was rather impressed with your flexibility," insisted the admin.

"But no more impressed than I was with your stamina," replied Inara.

"Hâo le!" Mal barked, earning a glare from Inara.

Jack cleared his throat. "Why don't you pass out the food, Ianto? Then I'm going to need you to go out to Serenity and bring back Dr. Tam."

"Of course, Jack," said Ianto quietly, giving Inara a chastised nod before stepping away from her to sort out breakfast.

Inara shook her head. "Bèn dàn. Could you be any more wánquán yúchûn?"

"Just wasn't 'spectin' you to pick up work so fast, xin gan." Mal stared hard into her eyes.

"Wode tìan! I am not your xin gan, Malcolm Reynolds!" Inara's voice raised to a shout. "There's no reason why I should have to stay on the ship! Ianto was a perfectly polite, gentlemanly, considerate young man and I'm glad I spent the night with him!"

Ianto swallowed, looking to Jack. Jack raised his brow, then shook his head, looking back to Mal and Inara. "At the risk of breaking up a lovely domestic, I'm the one who hired her. You did tell Gwen she's still registered, didn't you?"

"Forget it, Jack." Inara walked past Mal to take a box and cup from Ianto, bringing it over to Serenity's captain and holding it out. "I'm not going to charge for time Ianto and I spent with each other. It was a delight to share an evening with someone who understands me and treats me with the same respect he'd give anyone else." She cast a grin to Ianto, who returned it with a wink, then turned away again as he caught Jack staring at him.

"I should get these to everyone else. Um, they're in the surgery, then?"

Jack nodded. "Gwen went home. Anything for me?"

Ianto turned, offering out a box and cup. "Pancakes. Extra syrup."

Jack took it, having a sip of the coffee. "Thanks. Make sure you don't forget to eat."

Ianto grinned. "Oh, I'm fine there. Didn't Inara tell you she cooks, too? We were snacking all night." He nodded as Jack cleared his throat again. "Right, breakfast." He grabbed the remaining boxes and carried them into the surgery. "Morning, Martha. I brought you a latte and an egg muffin with sausage. I hope you like the same, Miss Washburne. I didn't know your preferences."

Zoe made her way over to collect her box. "I'm pretty easy to please. And it's Zoe. My husband.. passed away. Just don't feel right givin' up his name, though."

"I'm sorry," Ianto said comfortingly.

"Me too," added Martha, glancing to her computer screen and tapping a few keys. "Mind if I ask, how long ago?"

"Almost two months." Zoe gave them a tight smile. "Still expect him to be there when I wake up."

"Oh." Martha looked to the screen, then to Zoe. "Was the baby planned?"

"Shénme?" Zoe blinked. "Baby?"

Martha nodded. "According to the blood test I ran last night, you're pregnant. Didn't you know?"

Ianto grabbed the coffee cup from the first officer's hand as she slid off her chair in a faint. "I'll take that as a no."

* * *

Jack picked at his pancakes on one side of Jayne's bed while Mal sat on the other side chewing a sausage link in the corner of his mouth. Ianto had taken Zoe with him to Serenity so she could get some rest and recover from the news and was due to return with Simon in her place. Inara had joined him as well, having declared in loud Sino that even Martha and Ianto had figured out the meaning of that she had no intention of discussing her personal activities with Serenity's captain any further. Martha was busy briefing Owen about Jayne's situation in Jack's office, as well as sharing with him the files she'd downloaded from UNIT. "So are you and Inara..?"

"Ours is a business relationship," answered Mal quickly, looking up. "I rent her a shuttle, she whores on her own time." He dropped his empty takeaway box on the bed. "Just the past couple months she ain' been doin' that much business. Figgered she might be considerin' retirement." He eyed Jack with a frown. "Never seen her give it out for free like a doxy, though."

Jack flashed an unconvincing smile as he put the rest of his pancakes on the bedside table and pushed it away. "I guess Ianto's just special. We should talk about something else."

"Yeah, we should."

"So you'll have a baby on board coming up. Exciting." Jack offered a more genuine smile.

"Could do without that kind of excitement, to be truthful." Mal tapped his fingers on his knee. "Kid better take after his mama."

Owen walked into the surgery, pulling on his labcoat. "Can't live without me, can you, Jack?"

"Looks that way." Jack got to his feet. "Mal, this is Dr. Owen Harper, my science officer and secondary medic. Owen, Captain Malcolm Reynolds."

"All we bloody need, another captain." Owen pushed Jack aside to have a look at Jayne. "So, Martha reckons he's got some form of dissociative disorder. When'd we start takin' on psychiatric cases?"

Jack stuffed his hands in his pockets. "There's an isolation net around the time and system the Serenity comes from. He has the code we need to get past that net in his head, but we have to figure out how to get past the revision personality to get it."

Mal leaned forward. "Now, see, I keep hopin' you'll start talkin' in plain, simple talk. What the qingwa cào de liúmáng are you talking about?"

Owen raised his brows. "Pardon? What language is that?"

"Sino," answered Jack. "Loosely based on Chinese. Don't worry, I understand it." He looked back to Mal. "What I'm going to tell you is not to be spread around, dong ma? I worked for an Agency in the fifty-first century that monitored and repaired issues with the timeline. I can't tell you everything, but I can tell you that your part of space in your century was isolated to protect it for the future. We lost a couple of time agents while we were at it. He's one of them." He nodded toward Jayne.

Mal stared at Jack with high skepticism. "You're tellin' me Jayne's some kind of time traveler future agent?"

"Sort of, but he doesn't remember. We're hoping to get enough of his original memory back to get the code out of him so we can send you back home."

Mal looked down at his crewman. "I can't say I feel any better thinkin' 'bout you drillin' round in his head for codes, even in Jayne's head. I seen what that kinda messin' did to River."

"We won't do anything to harm him." Jack crossed his arms. "He was a friend of mine. I'm not sure that he'll still be the man you know, though. Jayne's not the real personality."

"Then I for damn sure know I ain' comfortable with it." Mal shook his head. "He may be a yúchûn xiāngbālâo, but he's our yúchûn xiāngbālâo. You're not doin' a damn thing more to him without his sayso."

Jack put his hand up to stop Owen from stepping into the conversation. "That's fine. We'll let the medication work out of his system and ask him for his consent. But I have to warn you: without him, you're stuck here, and that means your ship is grounded, your people are stuck, and none of you ever see your friends or family again."

Mal looked down at Jayne. "Why can't anything ever just go smooth?"

* * *

_Hâo le!_: Okay, enough! (sino)

_Bèn dàn_: Idiot. (sino)

_wánquán yúchûn_: completely stupid (sino)

_xin gan_: darling (sino)

_Wode tìan!_: Oh sky! (sino)

_Shénme?_: What? (sino)

_doxy_: promiscuous woman (anglo)

_qingwa cào de liúmáng_: frog-humping son-of-a-bitch (sino)

_dong ma?_: understand? (sino)

_yúchûn_: ignorant (sino)

_xiāngbālâo_: redneck (sino)


	6. Chapter 6

:Sorry that there was another delay. I had more family stuff that put pressure on my time, so all I could do this last weekend was put the finishing touches on a couple of previously half-written one-offs. Although they're not related to this story, if you're interested you can have a look at _My Hero Bares His Nerves_, a Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang spa-nighter, and _Invasion of the Vending Machine From Hell_, an irreverent encounter between the Torchwood team and a confounding bit of Gallifreyan technology Ianto leaves in the break room. And, of course, here's the next bit in this story. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. You guys are the best!:

* * *

Chapter Six

* * *

Jack looked up from his desk as Ianto stepped into his office, armed with a steaming mug. "Did you manage to fix the coffee maker?"

"I borrowed some parts from Serenity in exchange for hooking them up to YouTube." He set the java in front of the captain. "I convinced Captain Reynolds to have a rest on the couch, and Dr. Tam is examining Jayne."

"Good." Jack sipped the coffee, nodding his approval of it. "It'll be easier to function with proper caffeine."

Ianto picked up Jayne's hat from the desk. "Looks like a Monty Python prop."

"MOTHER retrieval items are unique by nature."

Ianto raised a brow. "If the desired effect is to shock a person, this would do it." He set it down again. "So did you learn anything more?"

"Nothing that makes sense yet." Jack drummed his fingers on the desk. "River mentioned Aiden and Reavers."

"Aiden was Ben's partner, you said. What's a Reaver?"

Jack shook his head. "They were rumors. Boogey-men of the stars. Supposedly they were space pirates who had gone completely psychotic. They'd pull raids on border worlds. Rape, murder, and cannibalize their victims, not necessarily in that order. Some said they never left survivors. Some said they did, but the few they left turned into Reavers themselves."

"Lovely." Ianto stepped behind Jack's chair, rubbing his shoulders. "Alien?"

"No. The Anglo-Sino system was isolated, remember?" Jack leaned back, starting to relax as Ianto's nimble fingers found the knots of tension in his neck. "If they were real, and it seems they were, they were men gone mad. Oh, that's nice. Inara show you that?"

"At the risk of you getting mad, yes." Ianto kissed the top of Jack's head. "There's no reason for you to be jealous, you know."

"I brought her over. I'm not jealous." He tipped his head back to look up at his boyfriend. "What did you two do?"

Ianto rolled his eyes with a groan. "Let it go, Jack. I didn't do anything I wouldn't have done with you there."

"I've been there with you with girls before, Ianto." Jack pouted. "And Inara's gorgeous."

"Yeah, she is," Ianto grinned with a distant look. "And talented." He looked back to Jack. "There you go, tightening up again." He sighed, moving around to sit on Jack's lap, sliding his arms around him. "You want to know what we spent most of our time doing? Talking."

"About?" Jack put his arms around the Welshman's waist.

"About captains and how they can drive us crazy." Ianto dropped his forehead against Jack's. "Now unless you want our relationship to plunge to the level she has with Captain Reynolds, will you just trust me that you're the one who makes me happy?"

"Really?" Jack smiled, tilting his head to kiss the younger man tenderly. "I could always do with a little more ego stroking, of course, before I fully accept that you appreciate how good you have it with me."

Ianto laughed, shaking his head. "I'll stroke anything you like because I _know_ how good I have it." He slowly unbuttoned Jack's shirt, sliding his hand down the older man's chest over his cotton vest as he dipped his head down to taste the skin of his lover's neck. Jack slipped one hand between Ianto's legs, squeezing his inner thigh with a soft moan.

The door to Jack's office swung open. "Jack, think you might want to--" started Owen. "God, can you two keep it off hours at least?!"

Ianto gracefully swung off the boss's lap to stand at his side, straightening his tie innocently. "Will there be anything else, sir?"

Jack chuckled, buttoning his shirt. "Not until I get a lock on my door apparently. Can I help you, Owen?"

Owen curled his lip in disdain. "I don't need help from the likes of you, Jack. Stick to fondling your tea-boy."

"What did you come in for?" he clarified.

"Oh, yeah." Owen suck his hands in the pockets of his labcoat. "Cobb's awake. Refusin' medical treatment of any kind and claims we're tryna kill him. You sure this twat has anything in his head?"

Jack pressed his fingers to his temples. "Fine, I'll talk to him. Ianto, bring the hat."

* * *

"You ain' comin' one step closer to me, Doc!" Jayne pinned Simon to the wall of the surgery with his forearm, preventing the young medic from pointing out the lack of logic in his threat as he kicked his toes an inch above the floor, clinging to the big man's arm to maintain enough room for his airway.

Jack ran the last few steps into the surgery. "Whoa! No killing medical staff!" He grabbed Jayne's shoulder and attempted to pull him back. Ianto gauged their difference in size at ten centimeters and three and a half stone, so he wasn't too surprised that Jack's intervention only earned him a backhanded punch in the face. He caught Jack in his arms as he stumbled backwards and moved him to the side, pulling out his stun gun and pressing it into the small of Jayne's back as he discharged it. Jayne managed a muted yelp before he crumpled to the floor.

Simon doubled over, rubbing at his throat. "Thank you. What'd you use on him? A stun gun?"

Ianto held up his favorite weapon with a nod. "Never leave home without it."

Jack guided Simon away from Jayne as the big man stirred. "Ni meí shì bà, doctor?"

Simon nodded numbly. "Wô hâo. Treating Jayne is always an adventure. Think I should start carrying a stun gun myself."

Owen sniffed from the doorway. "This is why I prefer working with the dead."

Ianto tucked his stun gun back into his pocket as Jayne pushed himself up to his hands and knees. "If you promise you won't attack anyone again, I promise I won't let you experience the sensation of having your testicles electrocuted. Now can I help you up?"

Jayne scowled. "Tāmāde húndàn." He flinched as Ianto put his hand out, then looked up at him, taking it with a much more docile and wary expression as he was helped to his feet. "They're tryna kill me."

"Why would they do that?" Ianto moved the muscular ex-marine to the bed. "Can I get you anything? Orange juice?"

Jayne nodded, his eyes taking on a puppy-like wonder. "Yeah, I love orange juice. Ain' had it since... I don' remember havin' it, really."

"I'll get you some from the fridge then." Ianto smiled and turned for the door.

Jack grabbed his arm as he passed him. "What did you do?" he hissed. "Why is he calm around you?"

Ianto shrugged. "He's a survival personality, Jack," he replied quietly. "I managed to get the upper hand on him, so for the moment, he's going to behave in the interest of surviving me."

Jack growled softly, narrowing his eyes. "Why don't they ever care about surviving me?"

"You take the punch," Ianto explained. "I stay back until you've taken the punch and I can step in and dominate the situation." He patted Jack's hand as he got a glare. "It doesn't _always_ work."

"Glad I figure so prominently in your combat schemes."

"While I hate seeing you get hurt, Jack, I'm also aware I'm never going to stop you from charging in when a hero is called for." Ianto half-smiled wryly. "At least the very thought of you in danger always manages to motivate me into action." He handed Jack the orange hat and pulled away to continue for the break room.

Jack rubbed his cheek where he'd taken the hit from Jayne as he watched Ianto leave. He had to admit, it was always a turn-on seeing the Welshman take charge in a fight. Perhaps well worth the minor annoyance of a black eye. He straightened his shoulders, taking his boyfriend's cue as to dealing with their guest as he stepped over to the bedside. "Here's the deal. You play nice and I don't bring in the doctors, dong ma?"

"Cào nî zûxiān shí bâ dai," replied Jayne with a sulky pout, dropping his eyes.

Jack shook his head with a grin. He was going to have to reassess future interrogations and have Ianto play the bad cop. "Nice mouth. Here, I brought you your hat." He held out the tuque.

Jayne snatched it and stuck it on his head at a lop-sided angle. "Who said you could go in my bunk?"

Jack fought the urge to laugh at the silly cap perched at a jaunty angle and destroying any sense of dignity the big man might have been able to muster. "I took initiative. You know who sent you that hat?"

"My mother," he answered.

"What's her name?" Jack crossed his arms.

Jayne's brow furrowed. "... Mother."

"Mother Cobb?"

Jayne nodded. "Yeah. Mother Cobb. Why?"

"Doesn't that strike you as the least bit odd?"

"No!" snorted Jayne defiantly. "Don't go talkin' 'bout my mother."

Jack held up his hand. "Doctors, remember? But fine. We can talk about anything else. Where you from?"

Jayne frowned. "Serenity."

"No, originally, I mean."

Jayne's eyes shifted warily. "Golem."

"Golem was hit with a radiation cluster the first year of the Unification War, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, yeah." Jayne nodded. "Whole population wiped out."

"Except your mother."

"What're you jawin' on for?" Jayne scowled, crossing his arms. "You got somethin' against my mother?"

Ianto stepped past the two doctors on his way into the surgery, offering them each a cup of coffee. He continued over to Jack's side, holding out a juice box with a straw in it. "Here you go, Jayne."

Jayne took the box with a smile, directing his attention away from Jack. "Thanks, boss. Harrison Ford."

"Beg pardon?" Ianto stuck his hands in his pockets.

"You'll never convince me Ben Affleck could do justice to Jack Ryan. Harrison Ford is the only Jack Ryan that counts."

"Really? I just enjoyed seeing Affleck do a great job for once and he had a great deal of passion for Ryan in my view, although I'll give you that Ford is an amazing actor I can watch in just about anything."

"Yeah, you just like to watch Affleck's ass." Jayne snickered. "Think you had the passion for Affleck, not him for Ryan. Can he even read Tom Clancy?"

Jack looked between the two with growing incredulity. "Ianto, does any of this strike you as bizarre?"

"All of it. Sum of All Fears was obviously the best film in the Ryanverse."

"As if," snorted the big man.

Jack grabbed Ianto's elbow. "Excuse us for a moment, will you?" He pulled the Welshman into the corner of the surgery. "You're aware that you're talking to Ben now, right?"

Ianto nodded. "I got that feeling, yes. As much as I would like to think that Clancy has the literary longevity to be popular in the twenty-sixth century, Jayne doesn't strike me as much of a reader." He glanced back to the bed. "Not sure why he called me boss, though, or how he knows I like Ben Affleck's ass." He looked back to Jack. "I have to assume I meet him when he's a time agent."

"You know I can't tell you that." Jack dropped his chin down. "Ask him about the code. We need the isolation net code from Miranda or we can't get Serenity back home."

"Right." Ianto stepped back to the bed, Jack following. "Love chatting film with you, Ben, but I need something."

"What is it, boss?"

Ianto squared his shoulders. "We need the code from Miranda. The one that will get us past the isolation net."

Jayne's features froze, the color draining from his face as his eyes filled with a hollow pain. "Don't make me go back there."

"You don't have to go anywhere." Ianto put his hand on Jayne's shoulder. "Just tell us the code, that's all."

Jayne grabbed Ianto's hand, twisting his wrist and rolling off the bed at the same time, pinning the lighter man underneath him with his hand between his shoulder blades and Jayne's elbow at the base of his skull. "Gûnkāi, chùsheng xai-jiao de xiang huo!" he yelled in a rage.

Jack tackled Jayne from behind, trying to get him to release Ianto. "Owen! I need your help in here!" He grappled with the strong fighter until Owen managed to get a hypo-gun around him to inject Jayne with a sedative. He fell back, letting the doctors get Jayne back into the bed, then helped Ianto up. He pulled the younger man into a hug, then checked him over for injury. "You okay?"

Ianto nodded, rubbing his wrist. "Think it's just a sprain is all. Sorry, Jack."

Jack shook his head, putting a supportive arm around his boyfriend. "My fault. I didn't think he'd hurt you."

Ianto bit his lips, looking over his shoulder at Jayne. "He's terrified. Something happened to him where he doesn't want to go back in his memory to that particular time. He'll be Jayne or he'll be Ben before that, but he won't go back to Ben on Miranda." He looked back to Jack again. "I don't want to feel his pain again myself."

"I won't make you feel it," whispered Jack, rubbing Ianto's back comfortingly. "Either of you. We'll find another way."

* * *

_Ni meí shì bà?_: Are you okay? (sino)

_Wô hâo_.: I'm fine. (sino)

_Tāmāde húndàn_.: Fucking bastard (sino)

_Cào nî zûxiān shí bâ dai_.: Fuck eighteen generations of your ancestors. (sino)

_Gûnkāi, chùsheng xai-jiao de xiang huo!_: Fuck off, animal fucking bastard! (sino)


	7. Chapter 7

:Sorry it took so long to get this chapter done. The author was sick to the point where thinking in complete sentences was impossible. Hopefully getting back into the swing of things now.:

* * *

Chapter Seven

* * *

Jack pulled one of the computer chairs opposite the tweed sofa that served as the universal crash pad and destress zone for the Torchwood team. At the moment it was serving as Serenity territory, the ship's captain and medic sitting at opposite ends of it. "So are you satisfied we're not trying to do any harm to him?"

Simon shook his head, discomfort showing in his expression. "I don't think you're trying to harm him, but I'm not sure anything you do with him won't wind up headed there." The doctor leaned forward, pressing his fingertips together. "I'll admit right off that my specialty is trauma surgery, not psychology, but thanks to my sister, I've spent a good bit of time researching the implications of memory and personality repression. If he only had this simple memory overwrite, not that I think that sort of thing could ever be minimalized in such a way, it would have been reversed by the retrieval item. Clearly things got complicated beyond that. I have to be honest with you, I find the entire idea of messing around with people's memories and personalities to be offensive. Jayne may be an ass, but he deserves better."

Jack sighed. "I'll take that into consideration, doctor, but remember, Jayne's not the real personality."

"Right. sorry." Simon pinched the bridge of his nose. "You'll have to forgive us. Jayne's the man we know and.. well, we don't love him, but we sort of get him at least."

"Far as I'm concerned, Jayne's right happy bein' Jayne." Mal crossed his arms. "'Til such a time as he expresses a want to not be Jayne, we'll tolerate him as he is and his standin' as my crewman means I'll still have a say in what you people do with him, dong ma?"

"It's not that we don't appreciate that you want your friend back," added the doctor, "but I have to warn you, restoring a personality after it's been tampered with can be extremely traumatic. You could turn Jayne into a schizophrenic or psychotic and never see Ben Jacoby for it."

"Which is why we're trying to be cautious about it." Jack rubbed the side of his face. "Has he ever told any of you what happened to him on Miranda?"

"Miranda?" Mal exchanged a look with Simon. "What do you mean?"

Jack ran his hand through his hair. "It was an abandoned planet. Ben and his partner used the computer core there to set up the back door to the isolation net. In case something happened, like this, and we needed to get back in."

"We been on Miranda two months back," replied Serenity's captain. "Jayne didn' say diddly 'bout knowin' it."

"Because Jayne doesn't," Simon broke in. "It didn't trigger anything, though."

"Do you know anything about Miranda?" Mal stared into Jack's eyes. "You boys picked a helluva place to be your backdoor."

Jack shook his head. "I never went there. We were flying the edge of the black, my partner and me. What is it? River mentioned something about Reavers." He looked at both men as the color drained from their faces. "What? What happened with the Reavers? They were just stories when I was there."

"They made them on Miranda." Simon swallowed. "They pumped a drug into the air system. G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate. It was supposed to pacify the population, weed out aggressive behavior."

"Go on," said Jack quietly.

"The vast majority of the population died after the drug worked so well they not only stopped fighting, they stopped doing anything. Working, playing, eating." Simon cupped his hands over his knees, studying the coffee table in front of him. "A small percentage of them, though, had the opposite reaction to the drug. They became psychotic. Sadistic. They lost all their humanity. They mutilated themselves and started attacking people."

"They became Reavers." Jack leaned back, looking toward the surgery. "What year did it happen?"

"Twenty-five oh seven." Mal didn't break his stare at Jack. "When'd you put men there?"

"Twenty-five ten." Jack looked back at Serenity's captain. "We didn't know. Records from then were... sketchy. It was just Ben and Aiden who went in. They only had to deliver the programming."

"Wouldn't hold out much hope for the other one I were you." Mal shook his head. "Just hope he died quick."

"River said Ben was looking for him among the Reavers, though." Jack looked over to Simon. "This G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate, was it an infectious agent, then? Or was it still in the air system? If it caused mutations, Ben would've been immune."

"It was gone before then. And no, it's not infectious, at least that's the official line." Simon looked up. "Sometimes the Reavers leave a survivor. Maybe as bait to passing ships, or maybe because they're just that crazy they don't feel like putting everyone out of their misery, but nobody comes out of it sane. Even without the Pax they're so mentally broken by the torture that they behave the same way as Reavers, mutilating themselves, even.. becoming cannibals."

"Ben didn't turn into a Reaver." Jack looked to Mal and back to Simon. "He MOTHERed."

Simon nodded slowly. "Maybe leaving him in that state is the kindest thing you can do. I'm not sure you know what psychological damage can come from someone being forced to witness prolonged torture."

Jack clenched his jaw, recalling the pure, cold anger that was all his little brother Gray had left after spending years being tortured by the aliens who had taken him as a child. "I think I do, actually." He got to his feet. "Maybe you're better off considering building lives here instead of going back to the Anglo-Sino Alliance. It's one thing when aliens are that vicious, but humans?"

"Not exactly the fault of the Reavers what they turned out as," pointed out Mal.

"I was talking about the ones who did it to them, actually," Jack responded. "The technology in this century isn't so advanced, but it's not quite so brutal. Not perfect, but no time is."

"This ain' our time or place, though." Mal stood. "We maybe ain' got much left in friends and the Alliance keeps findin' ways to make it less and less, but you think we can just drop in an' settle here?"

"You may not have a choice!" Jack turned for the core. "For now you're stuck on this side of the isolation net, captain, remember?"

"Isolation from what, if you don't mind explaining." Simon followed Jack, Mal trailing after them as well.

"A virus wipes out or mutates the human population everywhere else in the twenty-sixth century. Without pure human genetics preserved in the Anglo-Sino Alliance system, humans will be extinct long before I'm born."

"Pure human. As opposed to what?" pressed Simon.

"Alien." Jack looked back at him. "You know, you're probably the last civilization that clings to the idea that you're the universe's sole masterpiece. Don't get how you could travel the stars and not figure it out, but then again, we're lucky you never made friends or enemies with any other races. The last pure human society and you spend most of your time trying to figure out how to wipe each other out."

"Be that as it may, I'm still a little.." Simon shook his head. "Are you saying there's such things as aliens?"

Jack grinned. "Come with me. I'll show you one."

* * *

"Bù kê néng!" Mal stared at Janet. "What the hell is it?"

"Weevil." Jack tilted his head, watching as their long-term specimen of the species bared her prominent teeth and snarled from the other side of the thick plexiglass that formed th wall of her cell. "They're sort of the generic species round here. Live in the sewers, mostly. They can be dangerous, but they're hardly the worst."

"Where do they come from?" Simon stepped forward, his scientific curiosity stronger than his fear and revulsion.

"Don't know. Not from Earth." Jack watched the doctor with a smirk. "Don't put your fingers in there. She gets frisky sometimes."

"How you know it's a girl?" Mal had no problems showing his disgust.

"Owen's the expert on sexing them." Jack stepped forward. "They're not as smart as us, these ones, but they can do things we can't. So far we don't know much about them, but they seem to be telepathic.. or empathic, not sure really. They can sense when another weevil is in pain or afraid. They can also feel disruptions in time and space."

"I can't believe it." Simon shook his head. "It's a real alien." He watched as Janet moved to the back of her cell, dropping into a crouch and moaning softly. "What's wrong with her?"

Jack lifted his chin. "Looks like a Rift event."

"Rift event?" Mal queried.

"The rift in time and space that your ship fell through. When something comes through, she tends to notice. Well, if it's big or close."

"Like an early warning system or a guard dog." Simon crouched, fascinated.

"Actually, our guard dog's a little bigger," commented Jack.

"Jack?" Ianto came down the stairs, the look on his face confirming the weevil's reaction. "We've got a spike just under Mermaid Quay. From the depth, looks like it's in the sewer system."

"Well, speaking of places where the weevils congregate." Jack turned to Mal. "How would you like to come along with us, see what dropped out this time?"

"Oh, wow, run around in a sewer?" Mal deadpanned. "You know how t'show a man a good time, Harkness."

Jack flashed his most charming grin. "Oh, you have no idea. C'mon, Ianto, let's go show Captain Reynolds how to catch aliens."

Ianto offered out Mal's gunbelt and a can of weevil spray. "Had an idea he might invite you along."

Simon blinked as Janet threw back her head with a howl. "Captain Harkness? What is it now?"

Jack looked back over his shoulder, his grin vanishing. "She's feeling another weevil's distress." He took his coat as Ianto held it out and led the way toward the sewer exit. "Let's go see what's causing it."

* * *

"What's the spray for?" Mal waved the canister of weevil spray.

"It subdues weevils. Mostly. Well, somewhat." Ianto gave a resigned half-shrug. "They're building up a resistance to it, but it's better than nothing. Use it as a last resort."

"You two are just inspirin' all kinds of confidence," commented the former browncoat. "You sure it's safe to bring him along, Harkness?"

Jack looked back over his shoulder. "Trust me, Ianto can fight if it's called for. It can be a real turn-on, actually."

Mal eyed Jack. "You sure it's safe to bring him along, then, Harkness? Last thing I want is to get you excited in a sewer."

"Just keep him out of office buildings." Ianto stepped past Mal, shining his flashlight further down the tunnel and consulting his handheld. "The event happened just up here."

Jack checked his wrist strap. "Yeah, there's residual readings here."

"What's that up there?" Mal nodded toward what looked like a pile of trash.

"Well, it is a sewer, sir." Ianto cast a smile back to Serenity's captain. "But considering how close it is to the event location, we should check it out."

"Feel free, then," Mal waved them forward. "Ain' likely I'll find anything I wanna see in it."

Ianto sighed, heading over to the pile with Jack. As his light shone more directly on it, he frowned. "Jack, it's got a boiler suit on."

"I see it." Jack crouched down next to the face-down weevil, prodding it with his revolver and getting no response. "It's dead."

"Any idea what killed it?" Ianto handed the flashlight to Mal so he could help Jack roll it over. Both men fell back as they saw the face of the weevil slashed and cut down to the bone. Strips of flesh were missing from the arms.

"From the amount of blood, I'd say it was still alive when it was cut up." Jack turned away. "What could.. or would.. do that to a weevil?"

Mal stared at the corpse. "I know what did it. Seen that kinda work before." He looked over to Jack. "Reaver."

* * *

_Bù kê néng!_: No way! (Sino)

**:Thanks to those who've reviewed so far! I appreciate and value your opinions, so keep it up!:**


	8. Chapter 8

* * *

Chapter Eight

* * *

Ianto grabbed the light back from Mal, shining it down the tunnel ahead of them. "Reavers, sir? Everything I hear about them is not very good."

"I'd try to put the shiny note on rapin' murderin', cannibalizin' psychos, but my mind's more occupied ponderin' how air freshener ain' likely to hold them back none." Mal exchanged the weevil spray for his gun. "How much firepower is there 'twixt us three?"

"Three firearms, I only have the one clip on me," Ianto drew his 9 mm, aiming the light down on the body of the weevil again and swallowing.

Jack pushed Ianto behind him as he started backing up the way they had come. "We've got better weapons back at the Hub. Focus on that, Ianto. Get us back to the Hub."

Ianto nodded, his eyes wide and his face drained in the flash of light that crossed his features as he swung the torch back toward the Hub, taking the lead in their retreat. "This is the fastest way," he said shakily.

Mal followed, looking back over his shoulder at Jack. "He seems a steadied veteran alright," he noted sarcastically.

Jack shook his head as he caught up to Serenity's captain. "He had a close call his first field mission here, and it just happened to be against cannibals."

"That all part of the not brutal social scene in these parts, then?" queried Mal.

"It was the countryside," Jack explained. "It's not like it's common practice. And nobody got raped."

"Well, that's a sellin' point." Mal stopped up as howls of weevils echoed through the tiled tunnels, mingling with the more human but more chilling laughter of the Reavers. "Zhùzuî, yaoguài," he muttered, "can't tell which way the monkeyshit buggers are comin' from."

Ianto swept the light across the intersection in front of them. "Jack, I think somehow they got behind us."

Jack put his hand on the younger man's back. "Looks that way. Which means I need you keeping your head right now, got it? Owen and the others are back there counting on you."

Ianto nodded, his voice taking on a more sure tone as he clamped the light onto the base of his handgun. "Got it, sir." He tapped his headset. "Owen, there's a possibility of a breach. Get everyone into the surgery and seal off the Hub until we get there."

Mal spun as the howls died off and the laughter turned to growls. "Maybe we best be gettin' some forward progress toward our own escape? Not that bein' captured by Reavers ain' real high on my list of most horrific possible destinies, but sewers an' aliens an' the fine company of a couple of sly boys ain' makin' it more pretty." He glanced to Jack. "No offense intended, of course."

"Of course not." Jack nodded to Ianto. "Let's move."

Ianto studied his handheld. "We should take the north tunnel. Jack, how did they get past the isolation net?"

Jack dropped to a crouch, covering the south passage. "We'll figure it out once we're back at the Hub, Ianto! Move!"

"I'm in agreement." Mal grabbed Ianto's arm and spun him toward the north. "Point is gettin' someplace where we can put some large, solid doors 'twixt us an' them, see?"

Ianto nodded, crossing the grating at a run as the growls came closer. "How many of them are there usually?"

"More'n none's too many to care 'bout!" Mal caught up as shots rang out behind them. "Harkness, c'mon!"

Ianto skidded to a stop, looking back. "Jack!"

Mal grabbed him. "I'd admire your moxy, but we ain' in a good position to lay a defense right here, boy, an' if you run back there, I ain' gettin' out of these tunnels on my own any quicker. Believe me, quicker's what I'm aimin' for!"

"I'm not leaving him!" Ianto pulled away from Mal with a glare. "Just follow this tunnel north and take the second east turn and you can probably save your hide."

"Get him out of here, Reynolds!" yelled Jack, reloading on the run as he made another retreat. "Ianto, get Reynolds back to the Hub! I'll catch up!"

Ianto wavered. "But what those things did to the weevil.."

Mal caught Ianto's elbow and dragged him with him. "We'll set up a line back at the Hub. You got your orders, an' if you care more'n nothin' about that captain of yours you'll listen to what he tells you an' not make him work twice so hard with your questionin'. Also, you don' move your ass right now I'll shoot it an' leave you for the Reavers!"

Ianto glanced at Mal, not entirely sure that was a bluff on the part of the experienced soldier. He broke into a sprint, leading the way back to the Hub.

* * *

Owen ran down the metal staircase to the vaults. "Simon, get into the surgery, now."

Simon looked up. "The alien, she's freaking out."

Owen nodded, looking grimly at Janet. "She'll be safe where she is. Get up here. How good are you with a weapon?"

Simon blinked as he complied. "Uh. I can fire one?" He shook his head. "I'm not usually called on for combat situations, but Jayne's showed me the basics. Why?"

Owen handed him a Firing Stock 15 Rifle and an earpiece. "We're expecting company." He started back up, tapping his own headset. "Ianto, I've got it sealed up. What're we facing anyway?"

Simon shook off stunned shock, looking down at the rifle, then running to catch up to the other doctor as he fumbled the earpiece on. He heard the Welshman's voice respond as he clicked it on.

"Reavers. Not sure how many." Ianto's voice paused as gunshots were heard. "Jack's covering our retreat, but we're going to have to set up a defense at the Hub."

Jack's voice broke in on the channel. "Owen, I'm assuming you've got the armory open. Give Jayne full access to it and start getting a barricade set up at the sewer entrance."

"Arming the psychiatric patient?" Owen asked. "We sure that's wise?"

"If it's Reavers we're facing, we'll need him." Simon met Owen's eyes grimly. "I'll help you get him there. Good luck, Captain Harkness."

Owen was convinced by the look in the younger doctor's eyes. He grabbed a tube of flumazenil and dropped it in the hypo gun on his way over to the bed, then injected it into the slumbering giant to counteract the halcion he'd used to knock him out. He rubbed his knuckles into Jayne's chest to bring him around. "C'mon, Cobb! Wakey wakey!" He leaned over as the big man's eyes opened and focused slowly on his face. "Need you to fight. Can you shoot straight?"

"Always shoot straight," mumbled Jayne, trying to sit up and weaving.

Simon steadied him with an arm. "Not too fast, Jayne. Lean on us. Bring your legs around and onto the floor." He waited for Owen to get around so he could support his other side. "That's it, okay. Now up."

"Armory's this way." Owen groaned under Jayne's weight. "Why does it always have to be a big one when I'm here?"

"Armory? What's goin' on, doc?" Jayne looked to Simon, his brow furrowed.

"We've got Reavers coming," replied Simon quietly.

Jayne straightened instantly, his eyes flashing wide as he pushed himself up to take his full weight, adrenaline kicking in to focus him completely again. "Reavers? Well, stop jawin' an' get me a gun!"

Owen keyed open the door to the armory, stepping aside to let Jayne have a look. "Jack says to get you whatever you want. We got a barricade to set up. Coming, Simon?" He turned for the sewer exit, exchanging a look with the younger medic as they heard Jayne rummaging through the toys. "You sure this is safe?"

"No," answered Simon frankly. "But between trusting Jayne and facing a band of Reavers without him? I'd pick Jayne in a heartbeat."

"Grenades!" Jayne's humorless cackle from back in the armory did nothing to help bolster Owen's morale as he and Simon started moving anything solid into makeshift cover.

* * *

Ianto reached the door first, turning to spot Jack twenty metres back, firing into the darkness behind him. "Owen, we're here, open up!" He raised his pistol as Jack's revolver emptied again and the Torchwood leader made the final sprint. Mal joined him, the pair firing steadily at the shadowy figures that threatened to catch their tail guard before he got to them. Fortunately, it seemed the Reavers favored blade weapons, giving them a definite range advantage over the cannibals that had kept them ahead so far. It seemed to be taking forever for Jack to reach them and the door to roll open behind, but Ianto was getting used to the odd sensation of time suspension that happened when he was in a combat situation and his earlier nerves had vanished at the thought that Jack needed him.

Jack's teeth flashed in the darkness in what Ianto first took as a grin. He realized as Jack tumbled forward with a scream of pain that it had been a grimace. He abandoned the idea of waiting for his boss to reach them and ran back, ignoring Mal's sharp yell for him to hold his position. He dropped down to help Jack up, grabbing him with his free hand under his shoulder. "C'mon, Jack, get up! We're almost there!"

Jack pulled himself up with Ianto's help, leaning on him and trying to stagger forward. Ianto looked down at Jack's chest, seeing something sticking out of him, a bulge under his shirt, the object preventing Jack from healing and causing blood to spill freely and stain his blue shirt a dark purple. Ianto put his arm around Jack to support him. "Let's get inside and Owen can get that out of you. Please, Jack, I need you to help me!" He hoisted Jack up as much as he could and fired around him as he saw the flash of the wickedly curved blades glinting in the thin light of his torch.

"This ain' forward progress, boy!" Mal fired from the other side of Jack before draping the Torchwood captain's arm over his shoulder to help Ianto get him going again. "Me or Harkness give you orders, you listen, you got it?!"

"He's hurt!" Ianto fired his last round and dropped his pistol to support Jack, wondering why it was so difficult to get him moving, even with two of them. A sudden jerk nearly tore Jack out of his arms, yanking him forward off his feet so he and Jack fell into a heap. He tightened his grip on Jack as his arms slipped from his waist to his chest, spotting with growing horror a steel cable protruding from his lover's back and trailing back to the Reavers. "Mal, they've shot him with a grapple!"

Mal glanced down. "He comes back from the dead, right?"

"Y-yes." Ianto braced his foot against the wall, fighting to keep Jack from being dragged back. He was vaguely aware of a lot more firepower holding off the advance of the Reavers as those inside the Hub started providing cover for them.

Mal holstered his pistol quickly and bent down, grabbing the back of the grapple with both hands and mercilessly yanking it out, blood spraying across his arms as he all but tore out Jack's heart. "Pick him up and get your ass in there, boy!"

Ianto bit back a cry and clenched his teeth, struggling to his feet with Jack's limp body. Mal grabbed his legs and started for the safety of the Hub, giving Ianto no chance to fall apart or even consider if this wound would be too much for the immortal to recover from.

He saw Jayne outside the door, wielding a P-90 in one hand braced against his upper arm and spraying the tunnel with bullets while he held a grenade in the other hand, the pin in his teeth. As he stumbled past the doorway Jayne threw the grenade, then shoved him forward. "Shut the gorram door, doc!" the fighter yelled to Owen. Ianto heard the door slide into place and looked down, the harsh light of the Hub fully revealing the damage the grapple had done to Jack's body. His knees gave out and he fell down, looking through Jack's chest to the tile underneath them, droplets of blood making little splatter patterns of magenta on white.

Owen knelt beside him, examining the wound. "Bloody hell. Just when I thought I'd gotten used to seein' fatal wounds."

Mal grabbed Ianto's collar, pressing a rifle into his hand from the supply that were stacked on the sofa. "That door might hold about five, maybe ten minutes. There's two medics here an' nothin' good you can do for Harkness at the moment other than keep your own skin intact."

Ianto looked up at him in disbelief. "You saw what they did to him."

"And they'll do it to you, me, and ever' last one of us in here if they catch us an' they're feelin' kind. Don't want to ponder what they'll do if they're feelin' ungracious. Then when they're done with us, they'll hit that pretty little city you got up there. So what you're gonna do right now is get your ass behind that sofa next to Jayne and help us hold this fucking line, dong ma?!"

Ianto took a deep breath, looking down at Jack again, then nodded, getting to his feet and letting Owen and Simon take his lover's body away. He wrapped the strap of the FS-15R around his wrist and moved into position, forcing the tears back for later. "Yes, sir. We'll hold the line."

* * *

_zhùzuî_: shut up (sino)

_yaoguài_: monsters (sino)

_monkeyshit_: crazy (anglo)


	9. Chapter 9

* * *

Chapter Nine

* * *

Mal knelt on the other side of Ianto from Jayne, looking across the Welshman to check on his crewman as he selected a rifle for his use. "You feelin' yourself?"

"Well, not in the middle of a fight," the big man replied. "I'll go in my bunk for that."

Mal stared at him with undisguised repugnance. "Tiānna! What makes you think I wanna hear about that?!"

Jayne looked back in confusion. "Why'd ya ask, then?"

"I was inquirin' as to your fitness for combat, Jayne!" barked Serenity's captain.

"I think we can assume from his response that he's in his normal mental state, Captain." Simon cut off Jack's shirt and pulled it away from the wound as Owen started cleaning up the edges so it would heal faster.

"Yeah," Jayne gave a sideways nod. "I'm good t'go."

Ianto stared at the door to avoid looking back at Jack lest he lose his nerve. The door was holding, but he could hear some kind of machinery working on it from the other side. "How much technology do they have, sir?"

"Whatever they scavenge or steal, makes no difference if it's bâobèi or it's lièzhì." Mal caught Ianto's look of incomprehension. "Means they got high tech an' shit an' all manner in between."

"So how much longer can our door hold out?" Ianto focused on the thuds of metal on metal at the door again.

"That'd be somethin' to ask someone who had a gorram clue, now, wouldn't you say? Just be on the ready." Mal raised his weapon. "You ever been in a real battle?"

Ianto nodded, gripping the stock of the rifle in his hand. "I fought in the Battle of Canary Wharf."

"Well, it has a name, that's a real battle then." Mal looked at the younger man. "You on the winning side?"

"The invasion was stopped, yes." Ianto swallowed. "At a cost of four hundred sixty-seven dead, three hundred twenty-nine missing.. twenty-seven survivors. Make that twenty-six."

Owen looked up from his debriding job. "Well, good thing you're with Torchwood Three now. We get better odds."

Jayne looked at Ianto and Mal, squinting dubiously. "My cool and collected is not climbin' sittin' here next to fighters what keep losing most their units. I make my plans based on not bein' a fallen hero under any circumstances."

"You'd have to worry about being a hero first, Jayne, so you're safe." Simon laid gauze over the hole in Jack's chest and picked up his rifle.

"Damn straight." Jayne furrowed his brow as the banging stopped, replaced by a whirring sound like a rotary tool.

"We're too lit up here," muttered Mal. "Kill some of these lights." He ducked down as Jayne took him at his word, shooting out the fixtures in the ceiling of the Hub. "Jayne!"

"What? You said to--"

"I know what I said!" Mal shook his head. "Just wasn't plannin' on your bein'.. you."

"Why exactly did we give him a gun again?" hissed Owen.

"Because he's the best gorram shot we got in this room, doctor," answered Mal. "Now you just do your job patchin' up our holes an' leave Jayne to put holes in everyone else."

"Hate to interrupt, sir," cut in Ianto quietly, "but I think they got through."

Five rifles were raised to the doorway as it slid open. They were hit with the smell of burnt hair and flesh left from those that had fallen from the grenade, then the surviving Reavers charged the open door. Ianto allowed his mind to drop into a clinical analysis as he fired, counting off and averaging how many shots it took for each Reaver to finally stop getting up after he was hit. His average alone was ten shots to the torso, not counting bullets from the others' attempts to drop the same enemy. He had seen glimpses of mutilated faces with his torch while they were making their retreat, faces that didn't look any more human than a weevil's in many cases, so he was glad of the dim light that limited the detail he could pick up of the nature of the creatures he was helping to kill. It was easier to shoot if he thought of how alien they sounded and acted and didn't consider the fact that they'd been humans like him at one point. It was just like Canary Wharf in that way. He couldn't stop to wonder if the cybermen he'd shot had been created with the parts of one of his friends he'd had pints with at the pub the night before, he just saw a suit and calculated the weak points. It hadn't failed him until he saw conversions that still wore their human faces, ones like his girlfriend Lisa.

He shut off that line of thought quickly, taking more careful aim as the Reavers started showing a modicum of caution after several of their number piled up in the doorway, most of them effectively cut down by Jayne and Mal's expert head shots. They were no longer charging headlong into the line of fire, but were using the frame of the door as partial cover. Ianto saw something puncture the back of the couch in front of him and looked down to see the spider-leg claws of a grapple through the upholstery. The couch lurched away from them, dragging the largest portion of the hurried barricade out of effective range and moving it into the doorway where it became more protection for the enemy. "Shit!" Ianto rolled to the side, Mal pulling him up behind him under the slim cover of a filing cabinet.

"There go the extra rifles!" Jayne growled from the other side where he was pinned down behind a bookshelf.

Ianto looked back to make sure Jack was taken care of, the biggest part of his panic subsiding as he saw Owen and Simon drag the Torchwood commander behind the relative safety of the coffee table. "Jack's safe."

"That's lovely," noted Mal. "Don't want his corpse gettin' mussed." He checked his weapon while Jayne gave the Reavers reason to duck back into cover again with another spray of bullets. "How much ammo you got left, Jayne?"

"One full clip." Jayne slammed it in, dropping the empty. "Simon, make yourself useful an' fetch more from the armory!"

"There's more?" Simon blinked.

Owen nodded. "Jack likes his toys. Go!" He laid down the next cover from over the edge of the coffee table to give Simon a chance to make the run to the armory.

"I'll go with him." Ianto handed Mal his rifle and sprinted after Simon before the captain could protest.

"Damn it all! We don' need to lose two guns to a weapons run!" Mal finished off his clip in the next round of fire and switched to Ianto's.

"Only lost one gun, Mal," pointed out Jayne in the next breach between rounds of gunfire. "Ain' like Simon e'er hits anything."

Ianto slipped past Simon in the doorway of the armory, giving him a polite smile as he moved to the back to collect the more obscure weapons. "Your crew is.. interesting."

Simon stuck to picking out things Jayne would like, the biggest guns left on the shelves. "Yes, they are. If anyone can get us through this, though, it's them."

Ianto nodded, selecting the laser gun for himself and crouching down to pull out the two matte grey cases that held the components of Jack's Bigger Gun. "Help me with these, will you?"

Simon looked over. "What is that?" He stepped over as Ianto flipped the boxes open and started assembling the weapon. "What does it do?"

"Obliterates things." Ianto nodded toward the bigger box. "Start handing me bits, top down."

"Simon!" The bullets from the main room died off completely as Mal yelled. "Sooner than later on that ammo!"

"Box of clips on the floor under the black cases," Ianto directed with a look as he slid the last part onto the arm cannon and stood.

Simon nodded, grabbing the box and the rifles he'd piled on the floor next to the door before following Ianto out of the room. "Do you know how to use that thing?"

"Never fired it in my life." Ianto looked up as he heard metal clinking across the tiled floor. "What's that?"

"Grenade!" Jayne yelled, he and Mal diving opposite ways away from the open floor. Owen threw himself over Jack and rolled back with his body toward the surgery. Ianto and Simon froze, both watching in mute shock as the small canister rolled straight toward them, looking as harmless as a travel-size can of shaving cream. Ianto had just enough time to recognize it as a flash-bang and relax before it went off.

He stared up at the ceiling, trying to figure out where he was. He heard voices and crashing and banging sounds from what seemed like the parking lot by how muted they were. He blinked as Owen's face came into view above him, the medic holding a wad of gauze to his own shoulder, his arm streaked in blood. He saw Owen's mouth opening in a shout, but his overwhelmed brain struggled to make sense of the muffled distant sound that synced with it. His head moved to the side before he actually registered the slap to his cheek, but the sensation of cold tile to his skin actually helped things come into focus as he looked up at Owen again, now recognizing he was calling his name. He nodded his understanding, looking around and seeing that he had somehow wound up on the floor in the surgery. Simon was being helped up into a sitting position by Mal, who was also applying a bit of a love-tap to the younger doctor's face to get him to come around.

"J-Jack?" Ianto looked back to Owen, who rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I got him in here. Need you to focus, mate." Owen pulled Ianto up into a sit with his good arm, the blood from his wound flowing freely again with the pressure off of it. "Can you still fight?"

Ianto furrowed his brow, looking up the stairs to the surgery door, which was bowing in from an assault from outside. "They're still here?"

"They knocked you two out with a flash-bang, and we were out of ammo. Had to make a retreat," explained Owen quickly as he put the gauze back to his wound. "We got you two, Jack, and the weapons you had on you, and pulled back to here."

"Where's the Bigger Gun?"

Owen nodded toward Jayne's back at the top of the stairs just in front of the door. "He took it. I'm out as far as holding anything needs two hands. Bastards grazed me with a grapple."

Ianto pulled the laser gun out of his back waistband and pressed it into Owen's hand, then got to his feet, grabbing a rifle from the table. "Make sure nothing happens to Jack. Simon, Owen's hurt."

Mal stepped up next to Ianto, loading a fresh clip into his P-90 as Simon moved to tend to the other doctor's wound. "This's it, you know. Ain' got no place to fall back from here."

"How many are left?" cut in Ianto curtly.

"You just run hot an' cold on the take-charge, don't you, boy," noted the captain. "We saw seven of them standing."

Ianto nodded, heading up the steps to take position behind Jayne. "We should be able to handle that with three of us."

Jayne looked back at him. "Where the hell did ya get this thing?" He held up the arm cannon. "I'll be your sly bitch for an hour you let me keep it."

Ianto raised a brow. "No. That's Jack's gun. And a disturbing thought."

Mal shrugged from his position on the other side of the stairwell. "Jayne's just precious like that. Ready, darlin's?" He nodded toward the door as the hinges started to give. "Company's comin' in."

The banging on the other side stopped for a moment, then with a final crash, the entire door slammed forward, forcing Jayne to sidestep to avoid being knocked backward over the railing. Ianto fired from the side, the first Reaver jerking like a dancing puppet under crossfire from the Torchwood admin and Serenity's captain. As he finally slid down to the floor, Jayne brought up the Bigger Gun, firing it over the crumpled body into the three Reavers crowding to follow the point man inside. Ianto ducked his head down and covered his face with his arm as the three Reavers burst into flames and staggered against each other, emitting tortured howls.

"Two hours!" Jayne cast Ianto a pleading look. "I gotta have this thing!"

"What?" Ianto shook his head. "No! So very not interested!"

"Jayne, look out!" called out Mal.

A flash of silver and red ended with a wet noise of cutting flesh and a crack of bone. Jayne looked down at the tri-bladed boomering that was buried three inches into his right thigh. The leg buckled and he fell backward against the rail, sliding to the floor. "Aw, shit," muttered the big man, trying to stem the bleeding without cutting off his own fingers on the other blades. He reached for the Bigger Gun with his other hand, only to knock it over the edge into the surgery. "Tzao-gao!"

Mal fired a steady burst over Jayne at the next Reaver as it tried to follow up the attack by crawling over the burned bodies of its fallen comrades. Ianto took advantage of the cover to drop down next to Jayne and look at the injury. "You're bleeding badly." He slipped his rifle into Jayne's hands and put both hands on either side of the boomering, holding pressure around the buried steel. "How many have we taken out?"

"F-four." Jayne squinted, raising the rifle and firing over Ianto's head. "Five. Two more." He slumped back, his hand starting to shake. "Better get 'em quick."

"Need to get you to the medics quick," replied Ianto.

He heard Mal coming up the stairs to take over the fighting and glanced to the side in time to see both of the remaining Reavers throw themselves through the door. A scimitar slashed down at him, slamming into his shoulder blade as Jayne yanked him out of the way of having his arm cut off, losing his grip on the rifle to manage it. Ianto sucked in his breath sharply as the pain set in, waiting for the next blow. The whine of the laser gun and a blast of intense heat above his back made him look up to see the Reaver stagger back, half of what served as his face burned off by Owen's shot. Mal fired into him as well, three bursts sounding as one, then a click as his rifle jammed.

From the corner of his eye Ianto saw the boots of the last Reaver, his mind actually taking in the detail of small curled hairs in the leather of the creature's trousers. It struck him as very similar to human chest hair. He felt bile in his throat as he saw the fallen Reavers and recognized that they were all dressed in clothing made of human skin. _I'm going to wind up a suit,_ his mind thought stupidly. _They're lousy tailors. I don't want to be a poorly tailored suit._

The Reaver let out a high-pitched scream as it was hit with a combustion blast. Ianto looked to the other side, down into the surgery, and saw the Bigger Gun pointing up at him. His eyes followed the putty-colored barrel back to the face of his own captain, his blue eyes narrowed, his expression softening as they met Ianto's.

"You okay?" asked Jack quietly.

Ianto nodded, the pain from his back washed away in a wave of relief. "Just.. worried."

"He's cut up, Jayne is too." Mal stepped back to let Simon get to the injured men. "Nice shot, Harkness."

"Might have the same wrist strap," replied Jack, lowering his weapon, "but I definitely have the Bigger Gun. Sorry, Jayne. She's mine."

"Aw," complained the big man, his head rolling back as he fought passing out from blood loss. "I like that gun."

Ianto crawled backward to give Simon room until he bumped into the pile of dead Reavers. Jack dropped the Bigger Gun and ran up the stairs, pushing past Mal to pull the young Welshman into his arms. "Thanks for not leaving me back there."

Ianto hugged Jack with his good arm. "I couldn't," he murmured into Jack's bare chest. "You needed me."

"I always need you, Ianto." He stood as Owen elbowed him aside, crouching down to examine the shoulder.

"Never give the doctors credit, just the tea-boy. You're lucky, brat. Just a superficial cut," came the doctor's judgment. "You'll need some of that.. Oi, Simon, toss me that stuff you used on me."

Simon threw the dermal bandage applicator to Owen before turning back to deal with Jayne's bleeding. "Captain, can I get you to hold pressure here?" He pulled Mal's hand down to apply pressure, then slid the blade back along the path it had entered, tossing it aside so he could get to work.

Owen cut Ianto out of his jacket and shirt. "Sorry, mate, but you're gonna need to spring for a new one."

"Get a discount from my dad," sighed Ianto, looking up at Jack as Owen worked, applying the foam that sealed itself to the edges of the light wound.

"I'll pay for it." Jack crossed his arms, failing to hide the concern in his eyes or the worry that Ianto's empathy easily picked up. "Line of duty and everything." His head snapped up at a motion from outside the room and he spun, realizing nobody had a working weapon at hand. "Where's a gun?"

Owen grabbed the stun gun from Ianto's waistband and tossed it up to Jack. "That's it!"

Jack groaned, stepping up to the door. "Don't anyone else move."

Ianto leaned his head back to see what was going on. "I thought we got all of them."

"Someone's out there. Gwen? Is that you?" Jack raised the gun as something stepped out of the darkness. It seemed far too small to be a Reaver, barely bigger than River or Gwen. The figure ignored Jack's stance as it stepped forward into the light, lifting its head to look up at him from under matted bangs with empty green eyes, the mutilation limited to two long scars on each cheek. He stood there, his hands limp at his sides, no weapon in them, dressed only in a torn pair of military-cut trousers too large for his small frame and a brown leather wrist strap.

Jack lowered his gun slowly, his face ashen. Jayne sat up, shoving Simon out of his line of view, shaking his head. "Oh god, it's.."

"Aiden," finished Jack.

* * *

_Tiānna!_: Oh God! (sino)

_bâobèi_: precious (sino)

_lièzhì_: trashy (sino)

_Tzao-gao!_: Crap! (sino)

* * *

:Action/battle scenes are always hard to write and I'm not sure if I get it all out clearly half the time, so please let me know if you could follow it by leaving a review or comment.:


	10. Chapter 10

:For those of you who read my post-Countrycide Janto fic Spending Time and wondered what was going on in Ianto's head that made him spin so fast it left Jack dizzy, I've written the companion piece, Serving Time. Same scene, but only the dialog is the same as you get the story from Ianto's POV and get a glimpse of the Welshman Jack can't see and learn what made him go from angry tears to passionate proposals in five minutes flat. I'd love it if those of you who haven't read it yet would read and leave a bit of feedback as it really is a completely different story from Ianto's side. And as always, feedback here really helps me understand where I need to tweak and improve and it means everything to me.:

:Funny note - Googled 'leather wrist strap torchwood' looking for an addition to my cosplay gear for Comicon next month (OMG, GDL is going to be there!) and what was one of the fairly high returns? Serenity in Cardiff! Maybe I gotta stop the time agent cameos, or at least pace them.:

* * *

Chapter Ten

* * *

"Aiden?" Owen looked at the young man standing in front of them. "Who's he, then?"

"He was Ben's partner," answered Ianto quietly, getting to his feet with the help of Torchwood's medic. "A time agent. That's how the Reavers got here. The wrist straps are set to here as the emergency default for agents who have to wipe their memories."

"That right?" Owen looked to Jack. "When were you gonna share this little juicy bit with us? That why John came here to find you? How many amnesiac and quite possibly psychotic old mates of yours are gonna pop in on us?"

Jack kept his eyes on Aiden warily. "I don't know. We deal with it as it comes up, same as any other Rift activity." He studied Aiden for a moment. "Are you psychotic, Aiden? Do you know that's your name?" Aiden tipped his head to the side, blinking slowly, but giving no other indication he was even listening.

"He brought a gorram herd of Reavers with him, you think he's not bugjuiced?!" Mal shot a hard look to Jack. "Reavers don't leave nobody sane. His mind's turned, like Simon told you before."

Jayne shook his head. "Why, Aiden? Why did you bring the Reavers?"

Aiden's green eyes darted to Jayne. "You were supposed to protect me, Ben. Why didn't you?"

Jack held out one hand behind him to stop the others from jumping in. "Aiden, do you remember who you are?"

Aiden's face twisted with emotion, his shoulders slumping as if they suddenly had to bear the weight of what he went through. "I remember it all, Jack!" He shook his head. "I just can't remember what to say to make it all stop. I can't."

Jayne grabbed Mal's shoulder to keep upright. "No, Aiden, you gotta forget it. Don't stay there, kid."

Aiden looked up at Jack again, his face pleading. "Help me, Jack. I thought it would work, but you and Ben, you stopped it. Help me!"

Jack shook his head. "I don't know what you mean, Aiden, but we'll help. We're not going to hurt you. We're your friends, remember?" He held his hand out to the younger agent.

"Harkness, you're makin' a fatal error," warned Mal. "Most mercy you can do is put him down, now."

Aiden took the hand, stepping up close to Jack. He looked up at the taller man. "You swear you'll help me? You'll help Ben? Don't stand in my way, it's the only thing we can do."

Jack lifted his chin, his experience with his brother Gray at their reunion giving him reason to be cautious. "What do you mean? What's the only thing?"

The young agent stood on his toes, glancing to Ianto as he leaned in to whisper. "You didn't let the Reavers do it. Kill him for me, for Ben.. for Gray."

"No." Jack pushed Aiden back, shaking his head. "There's not going to be any killing."

Aiden's features twisted in betrayal and anger. "You have to do it! If he dies, none of it happens! There won't be a Time Agency!"

Ianto looked from Aiden to Jack and back. "He wants me dead? Jack?! What do I do in the future?!"

Mal shook his head. "He's bugjuiced, I'm tellin' you."

"Get out of here, Ianto." Jack didn't move his eyes from Aiden. "Owen, get him out of here!"

Ianto pulled away from Owen. "No, I want to know, Jack. All this," he gestured to the dead Reavers, "is my fault? Gray is my fault?"

"You don't do anything, Ianto." Jack pushed Aiden back into the Hub, further away from the young Welshman. "Don't make me protect him from you, Aiden. If it comes down to it, I'll kill you rather than let you hurt him."

"You don't get it." The scarred time agent turned away, crouching down in the midst of the carnage of the battle and hugging his arms. "I put it all together when I was being tortured by the Reavers, Jack. I didn't get it before, but now I do. I know you love Kyhl, but he's got to die. It's the only way out of this."

Jack clenched his jaw. "You'll just create a paradox, Aiden. You're a time agent, you know it wouldn't work. And he's not responsible for what happened to you with the Reavers."

Aiden shook his head, a dry laugh escaping him. "We don't deserve to live, Jack."

Ianto stepped into the doorway, yanking his arm away as Owen reached for it. "Help Dr. Tam and Captain Reynolds take care of Jayne, Owen," he said quietly.

Owen fixed him with a weary look. "Jack said to keep you out of trouble, mate."

Ianto shook his head. "I'll stay here. All right?"

Simon looked up at Owen. "Dr. Harper, I really can use your help. We need to operate, now, or he could lose the leg."

Ianto nodded to Owen. The doctor looked down at Jayne, then sighed, heading down the stairs to get the surgery ready. "Bring him down."

"Why don't we deserve to live?" Jack stood behind the smaller agent. "Because we're time agents?"

"I don't think even Kyhl gets it, but the clues are all there in his diaries." Aiden traced his fingers across the floor. "I found them the first week I was with the Agency. Started reading them in secret. Three thousand years of writing everything down. Why does he do that when he has a photographic memory?"

"Nobody remembers three thousand years, and even photographic memories can be tampered with." Jack shrugged. "Who doesn't deserve to live?"

"Humans," came the answer, almost spat out. "You think there's anything worse than us out there? Reavers, that's us, Jack. We make them, we are them."

"There's worse," said Jack, looking down. "Your grandparents lived in Boeshane. You know what happened."

Aiden threw back his head, a humorless laugh bursting from his throat. "That's what you don't get, Jack! Those things weren't a _them_. They were us!"

"The Shriekers? What are you talking about, Aiden?" Jack looked up again, his brow furrowed. "I was captured by them. I saw them. They weren't human."

Aiden shook his head. "Only humans can take that much pleasure in causing pain to other humans." Aiden looked over his shoulder at the older agent sharply. "What happened to the Time Agency? How many of them are there left?"

Jack looked away. "I don't know, I can't go back there. Not many. A handful."

"I know. Can't go back because the Shriekers broke through. And Rift travel is impossible in a Shrieker time loop."

Jack nodded. "I know that. But what are you trying to say about them?"

"You know who let them through?" Aiden stood, spinning to face Jack. "I figured it out. It was one of us. It was a time agent who figured it was the only way to get back into Boeshane during the Shrieker invasion."

Jack stared at him. "You're talking madness, Aiden."

"He didn't care how many of the agents died because he wanted to go back and save his brother. So he cracked the dimensional Rift using a theoretical program written by a tech specialist years before that who wanted to go back there, too, but he didn't because he knew it would bring the Shriekers forward as well, complete the loop, kill 'most everyone." Aiden leaned forward. "I wrote the program, Jack. I wanted to save my grandparents, but I saw it was too dangerous. You found it."

"No." Jack shook his head.

"You used it, Jack. You dropped the whole shit into a time loop, only it didn't bring the Shriekers forward. It sent them back. It sucked them through the Void and made them into what they became."

Jack grabbed Aiden's shoulders, shaking him. "Stop it! It wasn't me!"

"That's how I know it was you. Because only you or me would have reason to try to go back there. I don't blame you, Jack. I wrote it. I had to. It was a time loop, don't you see? If there's a Time Agency, then the time agents are destined to be sucked back through the Void and get turned into Shriekers, and they're destined to target the time and place where you go back to try to stop them."

"I would remember that!" snapped the captain. "It wasn't me!"

"He went with you. He must have, because in his diaries it mentioned how you hated the Time Agency for taking away your memory, taking away two years. He followed you back and wiped your memories of the two years it would have taken to get out of the time loop. Then he dumped you in the past because he loved you too much to kill you and he knew you were destined to show up here. Where you would take care of him. Where somehow you made him ageless and made it possible for him to live long enough to create the Time Agency." Aiden tapped his head. "You know I know it. Quantum programmer. Understanding how these time loops work, figuring out and predicting paradox, that's what I'm good at, Jack! He didn't hire me on because I was good in a fight."

"If it's my fault, why not kill me, then?" Jack clenched his hands into fists at his sides. "If I'm the one who made the Shriekers, I'm the one who deserves to die!"

"Wouldn't change anything," hissed Aiden. "It's in your past even if you can't remember it and you won't stay dead even if I cut your throat. You're immortal now. It said so in the diaries. It's Kyhl who has to die." He looked up at Ianto in the doorway. "Now, when he's Ianto Jones. Then the world really will end in the fifty-first century, before we can become our worst nightmare."

Ianto closed his eyes, shivering from more than just the chill of the Hub on his naked upper body. It was all too fantastic to be true. He opened his eyes again and saw Jack, choking back a sob at the realization of what he must be going through. What would it do to him to think it was even possible he truly was responsible for the creatures that destroyed everything that he loved in his childhood. "Jack?" He made his way over to him, stepping around bodies, not caring that he was getting closer to his would-be executioner with every footfall. Jack needed him.

Jack stared at the floor, shaking his head. "No wonder Gray couldn't forgive me. He must have figured it out, too." He looked up at Ianto, tears in his eyes. "Ianto, it really was my fault. I am a monster."

Ianto shook his head adamantly, reaching Jack and pulling him into his arms, hugging him tightly as Jack had done for him so many times, comforting him. "You're not a monster," he whispered. "You're a man. You made a mistake."

Jack clung to him, finally breaking down, burying his face in the Welshman's shoulder. "I deserve to die. Two thousand years wasn't long enough."

"No, Jack." Ianto put his hands to the older man's cheeks, forcing him to look him in the eyes. "It won't change anything, except you won't be here to make things right."

"Someone needs to make things right," growled Aiden. Neither Jack nor Ianto had paid him any mind as he picked up a harpoon-like spear. He drew it back, then slammed it with all his might toward the small of Jack's back.

A booted foot came up and slammed the harpoon upward, flipping it out of the slender agent's grasp. Ianto pulled Jack to the side as he heard the clatter of the weapon on the tiled floor, staring at the girl who had spared them from the attack. River's face showed no anger, simply calm determination as she followed up with a spin kick to Aiden's chest, then lunged forward to cold-cock him in the chin. The time agent's head flew to the side, then came back to center, his eyes unfocused. They rolled back in his head as he crumpled to the floor at her feet. River turned and looked up at him, her large eyes full of innocence. "I had to hotwire a police car and get through traffic."

Ianto looked down at the unconscious time agent, then up at River. "Okay. How did you know to--"

"Reavers." She looked around at the bodies on the floor. "You two took care of Simon, so I had to take care of you."

Ianto looked at Jack, wondering if things could possibly get more confusing. Jack was still sobbing, but it was half-laughing sobs, the surreal rescue breaking through the overwhelming revelations he'd faced. The young admin sighed, hoping one day he would be able to sit down and sort this whole day out. "Thanks. Simon's okay."

"I know." She gave him the barest hint of a smile. "He's just a little weird sometimes."

"Oi!" Ianto looked up to see Martha and Gwen in the cog door of the Hub, their mouths open as they took in the scene of destruction, the strange teenager, and the two half-naked members of their team. Gwen hurried over to Jack at the sight of tears on his cheeks, hugging him from the side. "Jack, what happened?"

Jack couldn't answer, just resting his head on her shoulder. Martha crouched down to check on Aiden when she saw his chest move. "Who're all these? Ianto?"

Ianto ran his hand through his hair. ".. Mind if we wait until all the bodies are cleaned up, Aiden's put in a cell, and I've made some coffee? Because I'm not sure I get it all myself."

"Sure." Martha stood and took another look around the Hub. "I'm impressed, Jack. This place looks like it suffered one of the Doctor's banana daiquiri parties."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

* * *

Gwen sat Jack down on his bunk. "Everything's going to be fine. Ianto and the others are getting the Hub cleaned up. We just have to get you cleaned up now, okay?"

Jack nodded, leaning against the wall and pulling one leg up to his chest. "Aiden?"

Gwen bit her lip, opening up the wardrobe to get a fresh vest and shirt. "He's locked up in a cell. Who is he, Jack? Will you tell me that?"

Jack shrugged. "Another casualty," he said quietly. "At least there's only five other time agents out there that can come through, now. Well, they're the ones that were out on missions when I did it. And I guess there's the ones who were MIA like Ben and Aiden that John didn't count, too. Never know when they'll show up wanting to exact their revenge. Wish I could remember who potentially survived."

"Survived what, Jack?" Gwen sat next to him, holding out the vest, finally putting it in his hand insistently when he didn't take it. "C'mon, get dressed. Ianto's already got enough to do without thinking you'll fall apart."

Jack closed his eyes, then took a deep breath as if the exertion to put on clothing was too much for him. He sat up and pulled on the vest numbly. "It's not supposed to be like this. I'm supposed to take care of him, make sure his world doesn't fall apart."

"He's a big boy." Gwen wrapped the shirt around Jack so all he had to do was put his arms through the sleeves, then buttoned him up with maternal attention. "He can stand on his own two feet quite well. Don't forget, you told me on that first mission he was with us in the countryside, he can take care of himself."

Jack gave a broken laugh, dropping his head forward. "He almost got killed that time, Gwen."

"Well, no more than all of us," Gwen pointed out. "At least he didn't get shot. I still can't wear a bikini." She got a brush from her handbag and started to fix his hair. "We're a family here, Jack. Granted, with aliens and such popping in instead of relatives, but it's no worse than the standard weird uncle, is it? We get on each others' nerves, we can sometimes wish we never had to see each others' faces again, but in the end we take care of each other and we rely on each other."

"Because nobody else will have us," mumbled the captain.

"Speak for yourself." Gwen put the brush away. "I have Rhys. Now, what is it you did that required surviving?"

Jack pulled his leg back up again, retreating against the wall and staring at it. "I killed my father. I condemned Gray to a hell that made him mad. I killed so.. many.. people."

Gwen put her hand over his on the bunk. "You wouldn't do something like that, Jack. This is a mistake."

His lips twisted in an anguished smile as he shook his head. "No, it's all there under the memory wipe if I know it's there and I look for it. I just wanted to go save Gray." He looked down at her hand on his. "See, those things that took him somehow prevented Rift travel. We couldn't get into those years when they were there. It never made sense to any of us. Why could we go anywhere else, but that was a blackout that just slammed us back to where we started?"

"Have to admit I always wondered why a time agent couldn't have someone fix something like that," Gwen admitted. "So you were locked out and helpless."

Jack nodded. "None of us can get back to the last part of the Time Agency, either. A twenty year gap and even someone with a fully functional wrist strap like John is stranded outside that time period. Everyone who wasn't out on a mission is gone. They shut down the Time Agency after they disappeared, after the director himself vanished. John always thought it had something to do with him, that he did whatever destroyed the Agency, because his vortex manipulator signal was the last one out before it happened. But he didn't do it. He was just chasing me. I was the one who did it."

"Did what, Jack?" Gwen squeezed his hand, hoping to get him to look at her. "And please, remember that I'm not a time agent, I need the technobabble-free version."

"Aiden's grandparents were from the Boeshane peninsula." He sighed, closing his eyes. "The creatures that killed my father also killed his grandparents. We sometimes talked about it, about finding a way to go back. Nobody else had the same motivation as we did. We lost people to the invasion."

"I can understand why it would be an obsession."

"Yeah." Jack took a deep breath, then continued. "Aiden was a quantum programmer. Normally he wasn't out on missions, not really the physical type the work usually demanded, so he worked in the Quantum Analysis division. He told me he was working on something, but then he went MIA on the mission to the Anglo-Sino Alliance. He didn't have any family, so he'd named me as the one he wanted to have his stuff if he ever got.. if anything ever happened to him. Since he was MIA it was all sealed up in a timelock case for five years. When it opened up, I found out what he'd been working on."

"What was it, Jack?"

"A Riftcracker. It's a program for breaking complex time loop matrices. Only this one was unlike any I'd ever seen before and it was specific." Jack gestured with his hand like a knife slicing the air. "Surgically written to open a dimensional crack into an open time loop."

Gwen shook her head. "You're doing technobabble, Jack."

Jack tipped his head back. "Time loops are just that, loops. You can jump into one, but it's a closed system. Like a bead in a hula hoop, you just keep going around and around inside it until you untangle the causality and it lets you out. The Boeshane invasion was an open loop. The hula hoop had a chunk cut out of it, so you jump in, it spits you right back out at your origin timepoint. The other bit of the time loop, the other piece of the paradox that had the causality event, lay outside the system."

"Okay, I think I can follow that." Gwen squeezed his hand again. "So his program, his Riftcracker, found a way around it?"

Jack nodded. "The program closed the loop. It would connect the Boeshane invasion to the program itself, forcing the timeline to cross at the moment it was activated, just long enough to get inside it. You know what a mobius strip is?"

Gwen furrowed her brow. "Think I remember it from science class. The paper twist thing, right?"

Jack nodded. "Put a single half-twist in a strip of paper and tape it. Then draw a line along it and instead of tracing once around you find you're on the wrong side of the paper when you come back and you have to go around again. That's what his Riftcracker did to the open time loop. It didn't actually close it. It twisted it and put tape on it, so to speak, so you could enter it and not get shot out again, but you'd wind up on the causality event side when you cycled around."

"Oi, how did you people get through the day without migraines, trying to keep all this in your heads?"

Jack smirked. "Most of us field agents just nodded when the techs would explain it and asked when and where we were supposed to go and if there was a party to hit on the way back. Anyway, I didn't see the full implications of it. All I saw was a way to get back in and save Gray and my family. That was all I cared about."

"So you used the program?"

"I used the program." Jack exhaled slowly. "I went back, all right. What I didn't understand is that the program itself was the causality event."

"What do you mean?"

"The program didn't just force the timeline to cross. It was the reason for the time loop in the first place. It caused the Boeshane invasion." Jack dropped his head against the wall with a thud. "The entire Time Agency..." his voice cracked and he fell quiet.

"Jack?" Gwen put her hands on his cheeks, turning him to face her. "Tell me what happened. I won't blame you."

Jack winced and pulled back, drawing his knees to his chest and hugging them. "But I am to blame. It must have synced to the vortex manipulators in the Time Agency, so every agent who had one on would have been pulled through. It must have opened up the Void itself and thrown them through it, and ch.. changed them." He closed his eyes, his cheeks ashen. "The time agents became the creatures and attacked Boeshane. I'm the one who set it all in motion."

Gwen's hands dropped to her lap as she worked through that. "Oh God. Oh, Jack, I'm so sorry." She leaned forward, taking his hands in hers. "Jack, look at me," she ordered in a low voice, waiting until he opened his eyes. "You couldn't have known that would happen and you wouldn't have done it if you'd known. You have to forgive yourself."

"How am I supposed to forgive myself for something like that?" He trembled. "Gwen, I don't deserve to live."

"You don't deserve to die even if you could." She kissed his hands, pressing them to her cheek. "We need you here, Jack, so just forget whatever penance you're thinkin' of that would take you away. I couldn't take that. Neither could Ianto."

"Ianto." Jack sucked in his breath harshly. "He can't remember this."

"He can handle it, Jack." Gwen smiled softly. "He loves you. He'll forgive you and help you through all this."

Jack shook his head. "No." He looked up at her. "You have to Retcon him. Send him home, I'll have Inara stay with him. He'll just lose a day."

"No, Jack." Gwen frowned. "You can't take this away from him. He saved you, and from the looks of those things, saved Cardiff. Besides, he won't do it, and I won't Retcon him against his will. He's not going to abandon you to handle this without him."

Jack's brow furrowed and he sat forward. "I'm not doing it to take anything away from him, Gwen. I'm doing it to protect the timeline continuity. If he remembers all this he'll try to stop it from happening and he can't. I wish it didn't happen, that none of it happened, but it's not something either of us can change. Look what happened when I tried to undo part of it. I know Ianto well enough to know it will drive him crazy trying to figure out a way to stop it and I can't risk that it will change his decisions in the future."

"How can he change anything in the fifty-first century?" Gwen studied Jack's face.

"Trust me, he'll be there." Jack lifted his chin, a hint of determination breaking through the despondency. "Without him, there's no Time Agency. Without the Time Agency, everything ends in the fifty-first century and I.. don't.. get back here." Jack narrowed his eyes. "You want me to stay, Gwen? You wipe the past twenty-four hours from his mind or Torchwood Three ceases to be New Year's Eve of nineteen ninety-nine."

* * *

Martha took her cup as Ianto offered it and patted his usual seat next to her at the conference table. "John's gonna have a fit he learns what fun you had without him here."

"Not really high on my list of concerns." The Welshman dropped into his seat, accepting a kiss on the cheek from the medical officer. "Thanks, need that." He ran his hand through his hair, looking much more his actual age in a black hoodie and jeans. "So, no problems from Aiden?"

"Other than his being practically catatonic? He's safe as houses in the cells." Martha sipped her coffee. "One of these days I'm hoping to meet a time agent who's, how do I put it, vaguely sane."

"There's Jack." Ianto toyed with his beaker. "Least ways most of the time. He's just under a lot of stress right now, but I won't let him down." He frowned at the table. "At least, not right at the moment. You might get your chance, though." He looked up. "We seem to be the ultimate destination for them, however many are left."

"Lovely." Owen made his way over to the table, peeling off his smock. "Jayne'll walk again, by the way, in case anyone wants to recognize my genius in surgery." He helped himself to Ianto's beaker as he sat down. "Even impressed a doctor from the twenty-sixth century."

"Genius recognized." Martha raised a brow. "You're fantastic once your patients are unconscious."

"Or dead." Ianto stole his coffee back.

"They're a lot more fantastic that way, too," commented Owen, leaning back in his chair. "Anyhow, your mop-up was nicely handled as well, brat."

"I had the help of Martha, River, and Captain Reynolds." Ianto tapped his fingers on the table. "We still have to get them back through the isolation network, you know. Serenity's crew, that is."

"Oi, leave it for tomorrow, mate," Owen groaned. "Some of us like to sleep after battling cannibal psychos and major trauma surgery."

"Speaking of tomorrow, I won't be here." Martha looked over to Owen. "Sorry, you're on by yourself again. I've got a date with Tony Stark."

Owen rolled his eyes. "Oh, cheers, thanks for the warning. Just watch his cardiac problem when you're shaggin' him."

"She's going to a reception at the White House, Owen. Oh, speaking of which I got your--" Ianto looked up as Gwen made her way into the conference room, noting her grim expression. ".. Where's Jack?"

"He's fine for the moment, sweetheart." Gwen made her way over to hug her fellow empath. "How about you?"

Ianto tensed, pulling back to study her face. "I'll live. What's wrong, Gwen?"

Gwen didn't answer immediately, digging in her pocket. She placed the Retcon caplet on the table next to his coffee, unable to look him in the eyes. "... I'm so sorry, Ianto. I really am, but you have to."

Ianto stared at the pill. "But.. Jack needs me."

"I know." Gwen sighed. "I'll take care of him, I promise you."

Owen looked to the Retcon, then to Ianto, finally turning his attention to Gwen. "How far back?"

"Just a day," she answered. "He can't remember what he learned from Aiden."

"Sorry, I'm out of the loop here." Martha tilted her head. "What difference could it make?"

"Because I'm going to be the director of the Time Agency." Ianto looked up at her.

"Oh." Martha bit her lip. "That's right, Jack sort of let that slip to me a bit back."

"Please, Ianto." Gwen put her hand on his shoulder. "A lot has happened today, but you'll have to trust us to take care of it. So you can be there to take care of Jack when he really needs you."

Ianto shook his head. "But I can stop what happens."

"No, you can't," Gwen replied with finality. "This is what needs to be done."

Ianto met her eyes, studying them for a long moment in silence, then sank in his seat, reaching for the caplet. "Martha, I got your dress. It's red, so you'll stand out, but tasteful, so you'll make a good impression. I hung it up in the ladies' room for you."

"Thanks, Ianto," Martha said quietly. "I'm sure it's beautiful."

"Owen, before I forget, thanks for patching me up and for.. for taking care of Jack." The admin gave the doctor a wry smile.

"It's what I do, mate," sighed Owen.

Ianto looked up at Gwen, not speaking his request out loud, just with his eyes. She nodded. "I promise he'll get through it and I won't leave him to face it alone."

Ianto nodded. "Can I stay with him until it kicks in?"

"Of course," Gwen responded. "He's in his bunk."

Ianto got to his feet, putting the pill in his mouth and washing it down with a swallow of coffee. "Don't forget to fix the doors and.."

"We've got it covered," broke in Owen. "Get your arse in Jack's room before you forget where you're headed."

Ianto set his beaker down and walked out of the conference room, repeating over and over in his head his destination, even though he knew he had a window of up to several minutes before the drug kicked in completely. It was simply easier to think of going to Jack's room than to think of why he was going there. He made his way down the ladder and turned to see the commander of Torchwood waiting for him, his eyes red from crying. Something had upset him, but Ianto found it elusive when he tried to recall exactly what it was. He stepped into his lover's open arms, leaning against his chest as the warm fog of Retcon muddled the traumatic events of the day, already seeming like it was just a bad dream. "Love you, Jack," he whispered.

"I love you, too." Jack nuzzled Ianto's hair, taking refuge from his own pain in knowing he was easing that of the younger man at least.

* * *

:For anyone who was confused by the whole paradox thing, I hope it's a little clearer what Jack's role in the Boeshane invasion was now. Let me know. **Review and make my day! I love my reviewers!** And yes, back to including the Serenity crew soon, I promise.:


	12. Chapter 12

:For those following the Archives of the Time Agency, I've posted Part One of In the Latter Days, the story of the end events of the Time Agency. The first story mostly shows the relationship between Jack and Kyhl just before the Riftcracking event. A big thank you as always to my reviewers. You're my inspiration and I hope you'll hang on long enough to see that Jack might survive this blow.:

* * *

Chapter Twelve

* * *

Jack pulled the SUV into the carport at the back of the maisonette and looked behind him to where Ianto lay sleeping in the back seat. "By morning it'll all be right again."

Inara sighed. "You're sure this is the right way to deal with it?"

"There isn't a right way," answered Jack quickly. "But this is the safest way." He handed her the key to Ianto's door, got out of the car, and opened the back door, sliding Ianto to the edge of the seat and then hoisting him up into his arms. "C'mon, he's heavy."

Inara closed the door of the SUV, then ran ahead to open up the door into the house. "How long will it be before he wakes up?"

"It's a short acting dose, only a couple of hours." Jack carried his boyfriend into his living room, laying him down on the sofa as Inara turned on the light in the kitchen, getting out two bottles of wine and emptying them down the sink. "He'll probably even feel hung over for a bit, so.. make sure he eats something." He undressed the younger man, throwing the hoodie, jeans, and hiking boots over by the door to take with him.

"Trust me, Jack, I know how to deal with hangovers." Inara brought the empty bottles out and set them on the coffee table along with a pair of wine glasses. "How are you holding up?"

Jack stared at the carpet. "I'm not. Think I'd rather have emptied those bottles the old-fashioned way by myself, but I have to get myself back to the Hub."

"Maybe _you_ should take an amnesia pill." The companion put her hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

"That would be too easy." Jack sighed heavily, stroking Ianto's hair. "There's still five agents out there somewhere who I have to wait for, have to help in any way I can. I think Kyhl set this as the default safe return not just because of the stability, but because I was here to protect and help the agents who'd been lost."

"And what will you do if they mean you harm?" Inara knelt and tucked a throw blanket over Ianto, then looked up into the captain's face.

Jack raised a brow. "Not like that's not a constant of my existence anyway. After the jobs I pulled over the years I've got more than a handful of pissed-off humans and aliens who'd love to do me harm. I'll deal with it when it happens."

"What is it with dashing captains and their unwillingness to plan ahead?"

"Plans are the things that blow up in your face," he answered, bending down to kiss Ianto's forehead.

"Wode tìan, you and Mal could be brothers." Inara shook her head.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Jack pushed himself up to his feet reluctantly. "I don't have to remind you that I'm entrusting you with the most important person out of all the vitally important people in my life, do I?"

"No, you don't." Inara laid her cheek on Ianto's hand. "I'm sure one day he'll realize that's him, even if he can't know just how much you're sacrificing for him right now. Go back to your first officer, let her be your rudder through this, and I'll take care of Ianto."

"Xièxie nî, mêilì mèimei," Jack whispered, then gathered the clothes and left before she could see his hands shaking.

* * *

Gwen leaned against the transparent wall of the cell, studying the small figure of a man crouched in the corner who had done more injury to Torchwood's leader than even Abaddon had managed. The god had only managed to kill Jack's body for a while, but Aiden might have dealt a mortal blow to his soul, and that she wasn't sure she could forgive, no matter how insane he was. "Why did you do this?"

Aiden looked up at her from under his hair, his eyes cold and empty. "You can't understand, with your limited experiences." He stood slowly, walking over to press his hand on the other side of the wall to hers. "Why don't you come in here and I'll show you what it means to be tortured by a Reaver."

Gwen shook her head. "I'm not going in a cell with you under any circumstances. You can forget that."

Aiden smiled, the expression twisted by his scars. "Didn't mean the cell. You're an empath. Do the math."

Gwen stepped back, her eyes widening. "You're mad."

He laughed. "Am I? Or am I just sane enough to realize how every last one of us has the potential to be a devil." He dropped his forehead against the wall, his eyes narrowing. "How many choices have you made that cost innocent lives? I've read the diaries, Ianto Jones's diaries. How much thought did you put into it before you opened the Rift? Did you see anything other than your dead boyfriend? Did you think about the number of other people's boyfriends you'd kill?"

"Oh, no you don't," Gwen said in a low voice. "You'll not twist my head around, Aiden Combs, time agent."

"Don't need to," he said quietly. "You know it's true. You think you're heroes, think you're up to protecting the world, but you're just like every other human. Sick. Selfish. Cruel if it suits your needs. We're a sin that needs to be expunged."

"We may not be perfect, I'll give you that." Gwen arched her chin up. "But we're doin' our best, and if not for us, who'd do the job?"

"That's what I'm saying." Aiden closed his eyes. "Don't do the job. Let us become extinct."

"I can't do that." Gwen moved forward again, slowly, putting her hand up against his once more. "We might be a sin, we might be a bloody blot, but there's one thing you've not considered."

Aiden opened his eyes once more. "What is that, Gwen?"

"Redemption." She found her fingers stroking the wall as if she could convey to him her comforting touch. "Jack made a mistake, and you were part of that mistake as well, but he's not given up like you. He's fighting to put things right, and that's what makes him different. And that's the man I'll follow, the man I love. It's what makes him a hero. My hero." She studied the hollow look of the young time agent's face. "Now, I understand what you been through is.. well, beyond anything. But whatever horror they did, here you'll find mercy. Jack won't give up on you, even though you have. And.. and even though you've given up now, I don't think even that makes you beyond redemption. Maybe when you stop tryin' to see how bad we are, you'll see there's a chance for you to come back from even this."

Aiden swallowed, for a moment her words seeming to make a connection, then he turned away, sliding down to sit on the floor, shutting out the world again.

* * *

Jayne opened his eyes to see River's solemn gaze taking up most of his field of view, Serenity's young pilot bent over his bed with her chestnut tendrils hanging over him. He reached up and flicked the curls off his forehead in irritation. "What you gorram want now, girl? Gonna hit me ag'in?"

"You don't have to look in the Reavers' faces any more." River sat back, perched on a stool. "Jayne _is_ a girl's name."

Jayne furrowed his brow. "Jayne ain' no girl."

"And you ain' no Jayne." She tilted her head. "You have to stop. Jayne was born under a blue sun."

"What kinda gôu pì you layin' down?" Jayne struggled to sit up, wincing at the ache from his leg. He looked down and saw the dermal weave that was binding the flesh together. "Aw.. zhè bìng bù huài."

"Simon doesn't mess up on his crewmates." River leaned forward to poke at the weave. "Blue Sun would take it away and put on a new one, a robot leg." She sat up, blinking. "You'd be a cyborg," she breathed in wonder.

"Don't touch it, girl!" Jayne sighed, dropping back on the bed. "Don't you got nobody else to make unsettled?"

"You've been through both. Been through Reavers like Aiden and didn't go bugjuiced. Been through brain-burning and didn't go bugjuiced." River shook her head. "Is that because of Jayne or because of Ben? Must be Ben because Jayne can only be half of who you are. Can't put in what ain' there, can only take away."

Jayne eyed her from the side. "Whatever. You never make no sense, nohow."

River nodded. "Ben knows why he's scared, Jayne don't."

"I ain't scared!" The big man frowned. "Leave me alone."

"No room on this world for a Jayne," River persisted. "But can't get back to our world without Ben. Only this is Ben's world. So if we get Ben back, no reason for him to help us get home."

Jayne closed his eyes. "Why you keep jawin' when I say stop?"

"I want to see Ben." River got up.

Jayne's eyes snapped open as he heard her picking up equipment. "Where you goin'?!"

River stepped into view again, holding something that looked suspiciously like medical equipment. She turned the knob on the side, aiming the small end at Jayne's head as she studied the small rectangular screen. "Hold still. It's got buggy calibrations. Someone messed with it and got it all screwed up."

"Wha..?" Jayne held up his hand, his eyes widening. "Put that down, girl! You ain' got to kill me!"

Owen stepped into the surgery and noted River's actions. "Oi! We don't play with the singularity scalpel!" He rushed down the stairs and grabbed it from her hand, heaving a sigh of relief. "This is very dangerous."

"Well it is now," agreed River. "It's broken. Someone changed the calibrations."

"I _fixed_ it, actually, thank you very much," corrected the doctor. "Why aren't you asleep with the others?"

"Nobody was watching over Jayne," she explained, looking at the wary fighter. "I'm going to look after him until he remembers."

"Shénme?" asked the patient worriedly. "You tryna threaten me inta it?"

River sat down on her stool again, taking Jayne's hand in hers. "Blue Sun can't get to you here. Sooner or later Ben will say hello."

* * *

_Wode tìan_: Oh, sky (sino)

_Xièxie nî_: Thank you (sino)

_mêilì_: beautiful (sino)

_mèimei_: little sister (sino)

_gôu pì_: bullshit (sino)

_Zhè bìng bù huài._: It's not that bad. (sino)

_Shénme?_: What? (sino)


	13. Chapter 13

:I know this chapter is long overdue, and I apologize. Hate being ill, and Nyquil is not conducive to complete sentences.:

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

* * *

"You know, you could have called me sooner." John leaned against the rail of the steps up into Jack's office. "That's what Widget Too is for, right?"

Jack stared straight ahead, not looking back at his ex-partner. "We didn't have time, really. By the time we knew what we were up against we fighting to survive it." He folded his hands, his index fingers straightened against each other, and tapped the heel of his hands on the edge of his desk. "So did Gwen tell you what's going on?"

"Yup." John made his way into the office and sat on the corner of the desk. Jack considered telling him off, reminding him that that was Ianto's spot to occupy, not his, but it just didn't seem worth fighting over at the moment. John laid his hand on Jack's shoulder supportively. "Look, it doesn't make you any less in my eyes. I always knew you were a bastard."

Jack closed his eyes with a sigh. "Thanks. You're so helpful."

"That's what I'm here for. Captain Union Jack of the Captain Britain Corps." John slid off the desk to study Jack's collection of posters. "So where'll you put him? Can't keep him here if you're trying to stop Eyecandy from being swayed by him."

"There's lockdown rooms at Flat Holm. I can keep him there. Ianto doesn't like going there." Jack rested his chin on his fist.

"Right, because the morgue is more homely," noted John. "You want me to take him?"

Jack nodded. "Not like he'll get to you with his mind games. You don't care what you've done in your past."

"A fact which drives Roma mad, I might point out." John stretched languidly. "Live in the here and now, only way to survive as a time agent. You'd do well to remember that."

Jack closed his eyes, listening to John's receding footsteps. They were replaced by another set coming in, lighter, with heeled boots. "Come on in, Gwen." She took her turn to sit on the corner of the desk. He opened his eyes with a sigh. "Should I just break down and put a chair on that side?"

She set down a slice of pizza on a paper plate and a cup of coffee. "You haven't eaten."

"I'm not hungry." He picked up the coffee and had a sip, then made a face. "What is this? Instant?"

"All I could find that didn't require the coffee monster. Nobody but Ianto can work that thing." She pushed the pizza forward. "I promised him I would take care of you."

"Ianto doesn't hover," the captain pointed out, picking up the slice. "But fine, I'll eat to keep you from failing at your promise."

"Aiden's wrong, Jack."

Jack sighed, putting the pizza back down. "I wish he was, Gwen. He might not have every detail, but he's pretty much right about what happened."

"That's not what I mean." She took his hand in hers. "When I spoke to him, he reminded me of what we did, all of us, when we opened the Rift and released Abaddon."

Jack shook his head, looking up at her. "Don't let him get to you like that. You have to let that go. You had no idea what you were doing. You were only acting out of love for Rhys."

"And Ianto? With Lisa? He knew full well what cybermen could do, enough he hid it all from us."

Jack furrowed his brow. "He was misguided, but he was just desperate to save her. If you can't forgive him for being blinded by love--"

"That's just it, Jack." Gwen squeezed his hand. "I can forgive him. And I know you forgive us for what happened with Abaddon, and we've got to forgive ourselves. You're not any worse than us."

Jack exhaled between his teeth. "Lisa killed two people. Dozens died with Abaddon. What I did killed thousands."

"Numbers would mean very little to the families of those who died because of our mistakes." She put her other hand to his cheek, forcing him to look at her. "Now, Jack Harkness might well have done some questionable things, but he's a good man. He _saved_ thousands from Abaddon with his own sacrifice. Same as he saved everyone from Lisa, including Ianto. You can't give up being that man or what will the rest of us do? If you decide you'll never be able to forgive yourself for what you did, then the rest of us have no hope."

Jack turned away from her. "What do you want me to do, Gwen? Pretend it didn't happen?"

"No." Gwen folded her hands on her lap. "Just remember the good you do that balances it out. Just remember who you are now."

"Live in the here and now," whispered Jack, closing his eyes.

"What?"

"Something John said. Live in the here and now," he repeated out loud, looking up at her. "It was what the director used to tell us when we'd come back from a mission and we'd be stressed over what we went through. He'd tell us to live in the here and now because that's always the place we belong."

"Sounds like good advice to me." Gwen crossed her arms. "Here and now you've got us, and you belong here. You said as much yourself when you came back from running off with the Doctor."

"Wish it was that easy." Jack dropped his forehead into his hands. "You don't know how bad it was."

"End of the world?"

He lifted his head again. "What? No, the invasion."

"Was it the end of the world, Jack?" She leaned across to look directly into his face. "When we mess up, you like to remind us it's not the end of the world. So when is it? The fifty-first century?"

Jack shook his head slowly. "No, that's.. way after that. Humanity survives for, well, longer than I ever imagined."

"Then I bet it'll still need you. So what'll you do? Let this mistake be the end of everything, or deal with it? I need to know."

Jack sighed, taking her hand in his. "Deal with it. Thanks, Gwen."

"Anytime." She bent down and kissed his forehead. "Don't think you're shed of me, yet, though. You're no good at dealing with things on your own, so remember I'm here."

He picked up his pizza, sitting back in his chair. "I'm counting on it."

* * *

"Jayne, I seen you fight Reavers an' all manner heishôudâng liúmáng," said Mal, his arms crossed as he stared down his strongman. "Now you're quakin' about a ninety pound girl sittin' at your sickbed?"

Jayne snatched his hand away from River and pushed himself up on his elbows. "She aims to gorram kill me, Mal!"

"I do not," protested River, taking the hand again, leaving Jayne unbalanced so he fell backwards onto the bed. "If I did, you'd be dead already."

"How's that a comfort?" Jayne's eyes widened.

"Now the sun is gone you'll be good again," replied River reassuringly.

"Seems she likes you." Mal smiled. "Just what I love to see, my crew actin' all sweet an' happy together."

Jayne yanked his hand away from the girl again. "Ain' no part of this sweet nor happy! She keeps jawin' 'bout the sun an' makin' me damn near monkeyshit!"

"Well, what you 'spect I can do 'bout it?!" barked the captain. "Tell her to be quiet? Because that's met with success e'ery time in the past."

"Get her brother to say it!"

Simon looked up from where he was sitting on the steps. "I don't know what she's talking about, Jayne, but she's not hurting you. Why not just try getting along for once?"

"Because every gorram time I try that she takes a swipe at me with a heavy object?" offered the big man.

"Am I interrupting a domestic?" John walked down the stairs, pausing to cast a charming smile to Simon. "So you're the medicine man? Book me in for a checkup."

"Uh, okay." Simon got to his feet, edging away from the redcoat. "And who would you be?"

Jayne pushed himself up on his elbows again. "Shit, Jady Gavin. You're out of luck, they're all straight."

"It's John Hart now, mate." John strolled over to the bed. "Captain John Hart. So this the little wife? Didn't we rob the cradle."

Jayne shook his head. "She's just on the crew."

Mal stepped in front of John. "Don't think we've been introduced, Captain John Hart. How many captains we need around here?"

"Let's see." John counted them of on his fingers. "Captain of Torchwood, Captain Union Jack.. that'd be me.. and you must be Serenity's Captain Reynolds." He flashed his lusty smile. "Wouldn't mind stowin' away in your bunk."

"Anyone not sly here?" Mal watched John warily.

"They're not sly," explained River. "They sleep with anyone.. or anything."

Mal eyed her. "Well, that makes it just about unnerving as possible."

Simon hurried over to provide a protective presence around his sister. "So what is it you do here?"

John shrugged. "Keep reality in balance and get no credit for it."

"He's friends with Ben." River fixed her gaze on Jayne. "I told you Ben would say hello."

Jayne glanced up at her sideways. "I knew him, yeah. He was a browncoat."

John motioned Mal out of the way, leaning on the bed. "That how we're playin' it? Because I had a chat with Aiden when I was takin' him over to his new flat. More like a padded cell, really. He told me what happened."

Jayne narrowed his eyes. "Aiden's crazy."

"And you, mate, should be." John looked at the others. "Might wanna step back. He might not like what I'm about to say to him."

Mal shook his head. "You ain't gonna mess with my crewman."

"He ain't your bloody crewman!" John crossed his arms. "He's a time agent first and foremost."

"He's right, Mal." River turned her large eyes to her captain. "Jayne's not real. Jayne's got blue fingerprints in his brain." She shook her head. "Gotta scrub 'em out, gotta wake up Ben."

Simon picked up a hypo-gun. "If he gets out of line, I'll put him under."

"Thanks, doc, but I think I can handle him." John winked.

"I meant you," said Simon, lifting his chin defiantly.

"Wow, they must really fancy you." John looked back at Jayne, then up at the doctor. "I'm not gonna hurt him. Just tell him what happened, what he won't face."

Jayne shook his head. "Don't make me go back there."

"Sorry, Ben." John sat on the edge of the bed. "You were with Aiden on Miranda when you got captured by Reavers."

Jayne shook his head, closing his eyes. "Shut up."

"He remembers that." River studied Jayne's face intently. "They ran to the shuttle, but there was one in there."

"Three weeks, Aiden figures," continued John. "Three weeks bein' tortured, watchin' those bastards kill those purple-bellies slow."

Jayne clenched his hands into fists at his side. "Stop, Jady. Don't do this."

"You want me to stop?" John leaned over him. "Come back to bein' Ben. Otherwise I'm goin' into details, because Aiden couldn't shut up about it."

"I don't want to remember!" hissed Jayne.

"Then come back to before that," offered the other time agent. "You're back on Earth now."

"Jayne don't belong on Earth," added River. "This is Ben's world."

The big man opened his eyes, looking at John. "Don't make me go back there again."

"Who are you then, mate?"

"Ben Jacoby," he answered in a mere whisper. "USMC."

"USMC?" John crossed his arms.

"Former," came the answer. "Now I'm a time agent."

John smiled, giving Ben a wink as he pulled a notepad out of his pocket and tossed it to Mal. "There you go."

Mal looked at Ben Jacoby, then at the pad, then at John. "What the hell is this?"

"The access code past the isolation net," replied John. "Even with him bein' Ben, ain't likely he'd remember a code based on a complex matrix." He grinned. "Got it from Aiden. He might be off the end, but he's got a hell of a memory for numbers and equations."

"So you risked putting Jayne through all that trauma for nothing?" asked Simon.

"He's not out of it yet." John nodded toward the patient. "Don't just get over something like what he's been through, do you. But no way he'd ever get over it as Jayne Cobb."

"So what do we do with him now?" Mal ran his hand thorugh his hair. "We been through the crazy crew routine already. I'm runnin' a ship, not a bughouse."

River looked up at him. "He's not coming with us, Mal. This is safe for him."

John nodded. "We'll take care of him. We can fix Ben, maybe we'll be able to fix Aiden. We fix Aiden, maybe we can start workin' on the real nutter we got frozen in the next room."

* * *

_heishôudâng liúmáng_: criminal bastards (sino)

_monkeyshit_: (driven) crazy (anglo)

_purple-bellies_: Alliance soldiers, so-called because of their purple armored vests (anglo)


End file.
